^ 



I LIBHAIIY OF CONGRIiSS. I 



i - / #: 

I UNITED STATK8 UK AMERICA. J 






k. 



PROCEEDINGS 



IN RELATION TO 



THE PRESENTATION OF THE ADDRESS 



•YEARLY MEETING 

OF THE 

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 

ON THE 

/ 

SLAVE-TRADE AND SLAVERY 



V 

TO 

SOVEREIGXS AND THOSE TX AT'THORITV 
IN THE NATIONS OF EUROPE, AND IN OTHER PARTS OF THE 

WORLD, WHERE THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IS PROFESSED. 



^LONDON: 

PRINTED BY EDWARD NEWMAN, 9 DEVONSHIRE STREET, 
piSHOPSGATE STREET. 



1854. 



NEW-YORK: 
JAMES EGBERT, PRINTER, 321 PEARL STREET 



1S56. 



PROCEEDINGS 



IN KELATION TO 



THE PRESENTATION OF THE ADDRESS 



OF THE 



YEARLY :MEETING 



RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 



GN THE 



SLAVE-TUADE AND SLAVEEI, 



TO 



SOVEREIGNS AND THOSE IX AUTHORITY 

IN THE NATIONS OF EUROPE, AND IN OTHER PARTS OF THE 
WORLD, WHERE THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IS PROFESSED. 




LONDON: 

PRINTED BY EDWARD NEWMAN, 9 DEVONSHIRE STREET, 
BISHOPSGATE STREET. 



1854, 



N E W-Y ORE: 
JAMES EGBERT, PRlNTEli, 321 PEARL STREET 



1856. 



L^-- 



The last Yearly Meeting gave permission for some corrections to 
he made in the Report which was then read ; and it has been found 
desirable to adopt this course, though to a smaller extent, in reference 
to the other Reports which precede it. 

London, 9th month, 1854. 



CI 

\ 

4 



PROCEEDINGS, &c, 



YEARLY MEETING, 1848. 

Tins Meeting, whilst afresh deeply feeling the cruelty and atro- 
cious character of the African Slave-trade, as well as the abom- 
inations of the system of Slavery, thinks it right 1o commend the 
whole subject to the very serious attention of the Meeting for 
Sufferings, to act therein as in its judgment may seem best. 



Minute of the TtLeling for Sujfcrings, \st of 12th snontli, ISA^. 

The last Yearly Meeting referred, by minute, to the very serious atten- 
tion of this Meeting, the continued horrors and cruelties of the Slave- 
trade and the iniquitous system of Slavery, with a view to its acting 
therein as might be thought best, according to the circumstances of the 
case. This important subject has from cue time to another obtained the 
very close consideration of this Meeting. 

We feel that the long-continued existence of these crimes should not 
in any wise weaken our sense of their enormity, but, on the contrary, 
that the additional evidence of their true character ought to bring us in- 
creasingly to see their sinfulness. 

It is a very distressing reflection at this day, that since the commence- 
ment of the active exertions of the members of our Society and of the 
inhabitants of this island, millions of innocent, unoffending human beings, 
children of the same merciful Parent with ourselves, have been subjected 
to the complicated inhumanity and injustice of the Slave-trade and Slavery,- 
And we feel that the termination of British colonial bondage should not, 
by any of us, be considered as the period when our sympathies for the . 
sufferings of the oppressed, or our sense of the injustice of the oppressor,, 
and pity for him in his unrighteous doings, should cease. 

We knoY/ that, at this very p-riod, the Slave-trade is carried on from 
tlie shores of Africa to the Western World with unabated eagerness, and 
with cruelties aggravated by the very efforts used to prevent it ; and wc 
know also, that this trade cannot be pursued without the continuance of 



those scenes of plunder and barbarity on the African soil, and those hor- 
rors of the middle passage, with which we have, alas, been long made 
familiar. We know that, in violation of the law of Christ, millions of 
Africans or of their descendants are now held in slavery in the United 
States of America, in the Brazils, in Cuba, and elsewhere, who are enti- 
tled by that law, equally with ourselves, to immediate, unconditional 
freedom. 

We feel that it is not enough for us to know these things, and even to 
admit the force of them. The question should be brought home to us 
individually, whether we are doing our proper parr, towards their removal. 

We desire to commend the whole subject to the very serious attention 
and warm sympathy of Friends generally, believing that in this cause of 
righteousness and benevolence we are called to steadiness, perseverance, 
and continual breathing of spirit to the God and Father of all, who for- 
med of one blood all the families of the earth. As we maintain this in- 
>dividual religious exercise in the fear of the Lord,- we shall be in that 
condition of mind in which we can discern our right course of procedure, 
.and in which we believe that our efforts on behalf of these, our deeply 
injured brethren and sisters, will be most availing amongst men, and most 
Jikely to be owned by the Divine blessing. 



At a Meeting for Sufferings, held 5t.h of 1st month, 1849 : — 

'This Meeting, having at this as well as at a previous sitting had under 
Its consideration the holding of a Special Meeting of its members, toge- 
ther with Friends from the country, at which the subject of the continu- 
ance of Slavery and the Slave-trade, referred to its attention by the late 
Yearly Meeting, may be deliberately and seriously considered, concludes 
to appoint a Special Meeting for Sufferings, to be held on Sixth-day, the 
23rd of nexl month, at eleven o'clock, to which the country correspon- 
dents and other members of this Meeting are invited. 



At a Special Meeting for Sufferings, held '23fdof 2nd month, 1849: 

In a measure, we trust, of that love which is not at our command, and 
imder a tender feeling for the sufferings of our fellow-creatures held in 
cruel bondage, as well as pity for their oppressors, a concern has arisen 
to address the nations of Europe and elsewhere with a declaration of our 
Christian testimony against the Slave-trade and Slavery. And this 



Meeting, with much imanimity of religious feeling, appreliends that it 
will be moving iu the line of its Christian duty in taking this step. 

A Committee was then appointed to prepare an Address accordinghj. 



At a Special .Meeting for Sufferings, held 19ih of bth month, 1849 : 

The Committee appointed at the Special Meeting for Sufferings, held 23rd 
of 2nd month, to prepare an Address to the nations of Europe, &c., on 
tlie continuance of the Slave-trade and Slavery, have produced the draft 
of an Address, which has been twice read and deliberated upon, and, 
being feelingly united with, is directed to be presented to the approach- 
ing Yearly Meeting. 



YEARLY MEETING, 1849. 

The Address alluded to in the foregoing minutes lias been now 
presented to this Meeting : it has been twice read, and is, after 
solid consideration, adopted, as expressive of the feelings of our 
religious Society on the deeply-important subject to which it re- 
fers. The following is a copy of the said Address, which has been 
signed in this Meeting on its behalf by the Clerk i- 



" To Sovereigns a\d those in authority in the Nations of 
Europe, and in other parts of the World where the 
Christian Religion is professed. 

" From tlie Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends of 
Great Britain and Ireland, held in London, 1849. 

" It having pleased the Lord to bring our fathers to a sense of the 
cruelty and wickedness of the African Slave-trade, and of the injustice 
of holding their fellow-men in Slavery, they were strengthened to act 
upon the conviction wrought on their minds : they set at liberty those 
they held in bondage, and in their faithfulness they enjoyed the answer of 
a good conscience towards God. In that love which comes from Ilim 



their heai-ts were enlarged in love to their neighbour, and they could not 
rest without endeavouring to bring otliers to thai sense of justice and 
mercy to which the Lord had brought them. From that time to the 
present day we have felt it to be laid upon us as a church to bear a tes- 
timony against the sin of Slavery. 

" We have believed it to be our Christian duty to represent the wrongs 
inflicted upon the people of Africa, and repeatedly to plead the cause of 
the Slave in addresses to our own Government. We rejoice and are 
thankful at the progress which has been made in this country and in 
other nations, in this cause of righteousness. Hundreds of thousands of 
slaves have been restored to liberty, and many of the nations of the civ- 
ilized world are now, to a large extent, delivered from the guilt of the 
African Slave-trade, — a trade which the Congress of Vienna, in 18J 5, 
pronounced to be ' a scourge which desolates Africa, degrades Europe 
and afllicts humanity ;' and for the suppression of which laws have been 
enacted. But our hearts are sorrowful in the consideration that this 
traffic is still carried on to a large extent; and that a vast amount of 
the population of the western world is still subject to the cruelty and 
the wrong of Slavery. We desire to cherish this sympathy, and that 
we may behold the increase of it amongst all men everywhere. 

" One God is the Creator of us all ; his eyes are in every place behold- 
ing the evil and the good. He will bring every work to judgment, and 
every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. The fam. 
ilies of the earth are all of one blood ; all partakers in the same, corrupt 
nature consequent upon the fall of man ; all are alike subject to infirmity, 
disease, and death, and all amenable to the same judgment after death. 
In the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ there is no respect of persons ; Hb 
tasted death for every man ; all distinctions of country, tongue, and colour 
arc merged in the immensity of that love in which the Father has sent 
the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Wherever the religion of the 
Gospel of Christ obtains its proper place within us, it softens our hearts ; 
it brings man into fellow-feeling whh his fellow-man ; it brings him to re- 
gard every man as a brother, and to look upon the nations of the earth 
as all of one family. Amongst the millions of mankind there is not one 
beneath the notice of our Father who is in Heaven : if we be partakers 
of his love, it leads us into pity for the forlorn, the helpless, and the 
oppressed; and it constrains us to do w^hat we can to mitigate the pain 
and to assuage the sorrows of those who are in suffering, to befriend the 
friendless, and to labour for the improvement of the condition of the 
most degraded of our race. 

" We are now assembled in our Yearly Meeting for the promotion of 
charity and godliness amongst ourselves, and, according to our measure. 



for the spreading of truth and righteousness upon the earth. The con- 
dition of the natives of Africa, as affected by the continuance of the 
Slave-trade, and that of the slaves in North and South America and on 
the islands adjacent to that continent, have again awakened our sympathy. 
We believe it to be a duty laid upon us to plead the cause of these our 
fellow men. We submit to the consideration of all those in authority in 
the nations which take upon them the name of Christ, the utter incom- 
patibility of Slavery with the Divine law, ' Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bour as thyself; ' ' All things whatsoever ye would that men should do 
to you, do ye even so to them ■: ' these were the precepts of our Lord. 
He spoke as never man spoke, and of his words He declared, ' Heaven 
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away : ' they 
are the law of God's righteousness to all generations. We submit whether, 
without breaking this law, it be possible for man to hold or to claim a right 
to property in the person of his fellow-man; whether, admitting the supreme 
authority of this law, man can buy or sell his brother ; whether he can with- 
hold from those who labour for him that which is just and equal; whe- 
ther the forced and uncompensated labour of the Xegro slave be not the 
breaking of this law ; in short, whether any man or any of the nations of men 
can, in any one of these things, violate the law of the Lord and be guiltless. 
" For the space of three hundred years, the trade in slaves has been 
carried on from Africa to the opposite shores of the Atlantic; and this traffic 
in the persons of men is still prosecuted with unrelenting and unmitiga- 
ted cruelty : year by year, countless multitudes are torn from all that 
they hold dear in life, to pass their days in toil and misery. Men are still 
to be found so hardened in heart, so bent upon the gain of oppression, and 
so devoid of all that we deem the common feelings of humanity, as to 
spend their time and talents in pursuit of this criminal commerce. We 
forbear to enter in detail upon the large variety of himian suffering, in- 
separable from this complicated iniquity , But we trust we do not take 
too much upon ourselves, in asking those whom we now address, to open 
their ears to the groaning of the oppressed, and to give themselves to 
sympathy with their sufferings ; to think upon the war, and rapine, and 
bloodshed, attendant upon the capture of slaves in the interior of Africa — 
upon what they are made to endure in their transit to the coast, and in 
their passage across the ocean ; and not to shrink from making themselves 
acquainted with the horrors and the loathsomeness of the Slave-ship ; to 
follow the poor, helpless, unoffending Negro, if he survive the suffering 
of the voyage, and to think upon his condition when landed upon a for- 
eign shore, and entered upon a life of hard and hopeless servitude — it may 
be — to be worked to death in his early manhood, or to live to behold his 
children subjected to the same degradation and oppression as himself. 



" Blessed is the man that cousidereth the poor. The blessing of the 
Lord resteth upon him who, Imowiug the evil which attends his neighbour's 
lot in life, is stretching forth his hand for the relief of his poverty and 
distress ; and his blessing is upon those who, like the Patriarch of old, 
are inquiring into the sorrows and hardship of the poor, the fatherless, 
and those that have none to help them. 'The cause which I knew not,' 
said he, ' I searched out.' 

" Our sympathies are awakened not for the native African alone, and 
the victims of the African Slave-trade, but we feel for those who are living 
and labouring in a state of Slavery, who were born in Slavery, and pos- 
sibly may die subject to its privation and its hardship. lu those coun- 
tries in which this system is upheld by law, man is degraded to the 
conditionof a beast of burthen, and regarded as an article of merchandise. 
The slave has nothing in life that he can call his own ; his physical 
powers, the limbs of his body, belong to another; it can scarcely be said 
that the faculties of his mind are his own. All that distinguishes him as ' 
a rational creature is, by the law of the State, treated as the property of 
another. He may be a man fearing God, and desiring to approve himself 
a disciple of Christ — we believe that there are such, — whatever the 
consistency of his character as a Christian, and however advanced in the 
cultivation of his mind, all avails him nothing, he is still a Slave, and the 
law allows him nothing to look to in life but hopeless, helpless, friendless 
Slavery. ■ Endowed by his Maker with capacity for enjoyment, like other 
men he has his social affections ; he may l)e honourably married, and in 
married life surrounded by offspring dear to him as his own flesh ; but he 
knows not the day nor the hour in which he may be torn from his wife, 
or in which his children, at their tender age, may be snatched away, sold 
to the man-trader, and carried into far distant captivity. So long as 
Slavery is upheld by law, we can have no security for the extinction of a 
trade in slaves. Such are the contingencies of the system, under every 
modification of which it is capable, that, until Slavery be abolished, men, 
women, and children will, we fear, be imported from Africa, and be 
bought and sold like the cattle of the field ; and the barbarities of the 
Slave-market will continue to pollute the towns and villages of those 
islands in the West Indies in which Slavery exists, and in the Slave^hold- 
ing countries of America. 

" The subject is so vast and of such manifold atrocity, we think, that 
even the history of the whole world does not furnish a parallel! to its 
crime. We deem it scarcely possible for a man of the most comprehensive 
mind fully to possess himself of the extent of the evil. The Lord alone 
doth know, none bat the Infinite Mind can comprehend, the individual 



and tlie aggregate sufferings of those subjected to these enormities. God 
alone can reach the heart and awaken the conscience. It is our strong 
dssire, — we sp(!ak with reverence and fear, — it is our prayer, that He 
may bring every one to a sense of his own share in the guilt, and that, 
ceasing from his iniquity, the condemnation resting upon the man-stealer 
and upon those who trade in the persons of men may no longer attach it- 
self to any one bearing the name of a Christian ; and that the Slave-holder, 
whether he be more or less involved in the sin of oppression, may be 
brought to act in obedience to the law of impartial and uncompromising 
equity, and, without hesitation and without delay, restore to immediate 
and unconditional freedom every slave that he holds in bondage. 

" The Gospel of Christ is precious to us. Through the mercy of God 
to our souls, we trust we are prepared, in some degree, to appreciate the 
means which, in his wisdom and love. He has provided for the redemption 
of the world, and the reconciling of man to Himself. In the word of 
ancient prophecy, Christ was promised, that in Him all the families of the 
earth might be blessed. "We cannot but entertain the opinion that the en- 
lightenment of multitudes of the inhabitants of Africa, and their participa- 
tion in the privileges and the consolations of the Christian religion, have 
been much retarded by the evil deeds of many who have gone among 
them ; and especially that the cruelty and wickedness of the Slave-trade 
have done much to keep them in ignorance of Him who died for them. 
In that love which extends over sea and land, and seeks the happiness 
of the whole human race, we make our appekl to those with whom it lies ,- 
and respectfully press upon them to take their part, in accordance with 
the peaceable religion of Christ, in removing every impediment out of the 
way, that, through the grace of God, the African of every tribe and every 
tongue, may be brought to the knowledge of the Truth as it is in Jesus. 

" May it please the Lord Almighty to bless those who reign, and those 
who are in authority, in every nation in which Christianity is acknowl- 
edged. May his wisdom preside in all their councils, and the law of his 
righteousness be the rule of their actions. May the Prince of Peace, 
Christ Jesus our Saviour, be honoured wherever his name is known. 
May his holy religion obtain its rightful influence in the earth ; and the 
people become prepared to offer praise to God, in the language uttered by 
the Heavenly Host — ' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good will toward men.' 

" Signed in and on behalf of the Meeting, 

" George Stagey, Clerk." 

The disposal of the said Address has obtained the solid conside- 
ration of this fleeting, in the course of which our dear friend 



10 

William Forster has, in a feeling manner, mentioned Lis willing- 
ness, under a sense of religious duty and of the weightiness of 
the engagement, to be the bearer of the said Address. The pro- 
posal of our beloved friend, who is a minister of the Gospel well 
esteemed by us, has had our very serious attention, and cordial 
unity having been felt and expressed with him in this service,, he 
is left at liberty, and encouraged to proceed in the arduous under- 
taking as the Lord may open the way. And this Meeting com- 
mends our dear friend to His preservation and care, and to the 
kind consideration of all those amongst whom he may come ; and 
may it please the Almighty to bless the presentation and circula- 
tion of this Address, to the advancement of the great end in 
view — the promotion of righteousness in the earth. 



18 5 0. 
Report from the Cormnillee of the Meeting for Sufferings appointed 
to attend to the jpresentatwn of the Address on the Slave-trade 
and Slavery. 

On the 22nd of the 6th month, 1849, our dear friend William Forster, 
accompanied by Peter Bedford and Josiah Forster, crossed from Folk- 
stone to Boulogne, and travelled with but little intermission to the Hague. 
They were detained there nearly two weeks, in consequence of the 
absence from that city of William III., King of Holland; dtn-ing which 
time they found occupation in procuring, completing, and printing 
translations of the paper into the French and Dutch languages. As 
there seemed no probability of the King's early return, and as it was not 
judged suitable for him to be seen on the occasion at his country re- 
sidence, they placed the copy of the Address entrusted to them for him in 
the hands of his Prime Minister, who undertook the due presentation of it. 

Our three friends afterwards had an opportunity ofdelivering a printed 
copy of the same to each of the members of the Government, and also 
forwai'ded it to the several members of the First and Second Chambers 
of the Parliament, and to other persons of influence. They visited 
Amsterdam, Utrecht, Aruheim, Haarlem, Leyden, and Rotterdam ; at 
each of which towns they presented or forwarded the paper to the burgomas- 
ler, members of the town councils, Protestant and Roman Catholic 
ministers, influential men, civil or ecclesiastical, and to other persons of 
influence ; leaving at Leyden a suflicient supply for the professors in that 
University, addressed to them. From Rotterdam several small parcels 



11 

of the Address were forwarded to most of the principal towns in the 
kingdom which they had not visited. In many of the distributions in Hol- 
land there was given with it a small pamphlet translated into the Dutch 
language, containing some informatioii on the present state of the Slave- 
trade and of Slavery. 

On the 17th of the 7th month, our friends left Holland and went to Brus- 
sels, where, after a detention of a very few days, an opportunity was readily 
granted to see Leopold, the King of the Belgians, to whom the Address 
was read in English, and by whom it was kindly and attentively received. 
They returned to England on the 24th of the 7th month. 

William Forster left Dover on the 30th of the following month, ac- 
companied by John ]\Iarsh, of Dorking, and travelling without any 
detention, except passing the First-day with the Friends at Minden, they 
reached Hanover on the 3rd of the 9th month. A translation of the 
paper into German was printed in that city : a copy was forwarded to the 
King of Hanover ; another was presented to the Crown Prince, to whom 
it was read ; it was given to the principal Ministers of State, and other 
copies were distributed in that city. 

Our two friends were joined at Hanover by Auguste Mundhencke, of 
Pyrmont, and they proceeded together by way of Hamburg and Copen- 
hagen to Gothenburg. As the season was advancing, they thought it 
best to go forward to Stockholm, and went across Sweden by inland 
navigation, and afterwards up the Baltic to that city, which they reached 
about the ISth of the 9th month. They were detained there several 
weeks, in consequence of the King not being returned from a visit to his 
dommions in Norway, in the course of which time William Forster went 
up to Upsala. 

An early opportunity was obtained after the arrival of King Oscar at 
Stockholm to present the Address to him, and he received it very kindly. 
An edition of 1500 copies of a Swedish translation was printed in that city. 

The paper was afterwards presented to some other members of the 
Royal family. Copies were freely distributed to the Ministers of the 
Crown, and to other persons of influence ; it was forwarded to the 
Governors of the twenty-four provinces; a liberal supply was sent for 
the professors of the two Universities of Upsala and Lund, and 150 copies 
for the upper students in the former, and 50 for those in the latter. The 
ecclesiastical officers in Sweden were supplied, and copies in Danish were 
forwarded to the Governors of the provinces of Norway, from an edition 
in that language which had been printed at Copenhagen. The paper 
was freely distributed among the influential inhabitants of the prosperous 
commercial port of Gothenburg, and supplies were sent to the islands of 
Gothland and Oland. 



12 

The three friends returned to Copenhagen on the 1st of the 11th month, 
where in the course of a few days, the Address was presented to 
Frederick VII., King of Denmark, and afterwards to the two Queens 
Dowager. It was freely distributed in that city ; copies were forwarded 
to the Governors of the provinces, to the Bishops of the Lutheran Church, 
and to the University of Copenhagen ; two parcels were sent to Iceland, 
and many copies were given away in Sleswick andHolstein, as our friends 
travelled through those duchies towards Hamburg. 

In that important and commercial city they were diligently occupied 
in going with tlie paper from house to house, leaving it, among others, for 
the civil authorities, and also for themerchants, many of whom arc much 
engaged i)i trade to the Brazils and to the Spanish settlements. 

Our dear friend William Forster arrived at Berlin on the 4th of the 
12th month, where he was joined by Josiah Forster and Cornelius 
Hanbury. John Marsh left him on the following day, Augustc Mund- 
hencke having returned home from Hamburg. By the friendly assistance 
of Baron Humboldt an early opportunity was kindly granted to present 
the Address to Frederic William IV., King of Prussia, at his palace at 
Potsdam : it was read to him by William Forster, and was favourably 
received. It was also presented to the Princess of Prussia, and to several 
of the Ministers of State in that city, and was respectfully received, being 
forwarded also to the other Ministers : copies for distribution were 
furnished to the Rector of the large University of Berlin, who kindly 
undertook the care of forwarding them to the professors. Lists were 
obtained of the names of the members of the "First and Second Cham- 
bers" of the Legislature, and copies were distributed to them. The 
Ministers of the Interior and of Public Worship very readily agreed to 
furnish lists, the former of the Governors of the provinces, and the lat- 
ter of those in ecclesiastical authority ; and a supply of the paper was 
sent for them to transmit accordingly. Copies were also distributed to 
some other influential persons in the tity of Berlin ; an edition of 2000 
copies, in German, having been printed there.* 

The three friends went to Dresden on the 21st of the 12th month, 
where an early opportunity was afforded to present the Address to 
Frederic Augustus, King of Saxony, by whom it was kindly received. 
Copies were forwarded to his ministers, to the members of the Two 
Chambers, and to one of the ministers who took charge of them for per- 
sons of influence throughout that kingdom. They afterwards visited 

* In this city our friend William Forster liad religious sei-vicewith several congre- 
gations of seiious and awakened Protestants, to the relief of his own mind, and, it 
is believed, to the comfort and edification of those amongst whom he laboured. 



13 

Leipsic and Halle, from wliicli last-mentioned place Cornelius Hanbury 
returned to England. In each of these towns is a University ; care was 
taken for the supply of the professors connected with them, as we'll as 
of the members of th(! civil administration in the commercial town of 
Leipsic. 

Soon after returning to Dresden, William Forster and Jesiah Forster 
left for Vienna. They remained two days at Breslau, in Silesia, in the King 
of Prussia's dominions, on their way. There is a large University in 
that city ; they saw the Rector and forwarded to him copies of the Ad- 
dress for the professors, presented other copies to persons of intlnence, 
and also left a few for more general distrib'ition. With the Address, 
there was generally circulated, in Prussia and in Saxony, an appeal on 
the Slave-trade and Slavery, containing in a few pages extracts from a 
paper published by Friends in 1844, more circumstantial in its details, 
and also some evidence, of a recent date, of the horrors of the African 
Slave-trade. 

Our friends were favoured to arrive at Vienna on the 5tli of the 1st 
month, 1S50. Through the kind assistance of the British Ambassador, 
an interview was obtained with the Prime ^[inister of the Austrian Em- 
pire, and in the course of a few days they were informed that the Emperor 
Francis Joseph would see them on the l4th. They attended at the palace 
at the time appointed, when the Address was presented to him. He was 
alone : he kindly engaged to read the paper, and listened to a few remarks 
connected with the subject which were oifered to him. The interview 
was agreeable, and satisfactory in its character. 

After some little detention from the pressure of public business, 
opportunities were obtained to present the Address to the several Minis- 
ters of State. It was well received, and on most of these occasions 
short conversations took place on the circumstances of the oppressed. 
They readily agreed to send copies to the several Governors of the pro- 
vinces throughout the Empire, to those in ecclesiastical authority, and to 
the Austrian Consuls in the Mediterranean. Copies were furnished for 
the purpose, and also to the Archbishop (who was seen,) for the priests 
in that city. The protestant ministers were also supplied w'ith copies, for 
members of the small congregations of the Lutheran and Reformed 
Churches. The names of about twenty of the nobility were obtained, 
and the Address was left at their houses or handed to them. The Rec- 
tor of the large University of Vienna kindly consented to forward copies 
to the professors. He furnished a list of their names, and a supply was 
placed with him addressed to them. 

Our two friends left Vienna on the 26th of the 1st month and procee- 
ded to Prague. They tarried in that city a few days, and found oppor- 



14 

tunities to distribute the Address to several persons of influence among 
the Roman Catholics, and also among the few Protestants settled there, 
to the professors of the large University in that city, and to the Ex- 
Empress of Vienna now resident at Prague. 

They next visited Munich, arriving there, after a long journey, on the 
1st of the 2nd month. Maximilian, the King of Bavaria, early granted 
them an interview, and gave them a friendly, open reception. As he 
understood English, portions of the Address were read to him. His 
Ministers of State were severally seen ; the interviews were granted with 
much readiness. They willingly received the Address, and consented to 
forward it to civil and ecclesiastical officers in different parts of the Idng- 
dom : supplies were furnished for the purpose. The Address was ako 
sent to the professors in tho Bavarian Universities, of Erlangen, Wiirtz- 
burg and JMunich. The Two Chambers of the Legislature were then sitting, 
and copies were forwarded to the members at their own dwellings. Sepa- 
rate small packages were made up for distribution to persons of influence 
in the city, in diS"erent stations, and were sent to them. 

Tarrying two nights at Augsburg, where occasions where made use of 
to distribute the paper in a similar manner to persons in that city, our 
friends arrived at Stuttgard on the 12th of the 2nd month, where they 
obtained an early opportunity to present the Address to the King of 
"Wurtemburg, who received them with much openness. It was after- 
wards given to the several Ministers of State ; packets were prepared to 
be forwarded to the professors at the University of Tubingen, and to those 
in civil and ecclesiastical authority in different parts of the kingdom, and 
were committed to the care of the Ministers of State, who furnished the 
necessary directions, and agreed to forward them : a supply for influen- 
tial persons of different classes in Stuttgard was also entrusted to an 
individual in that city. 

Our friends then visted Carlsruhe, the chief town in the Grand Duchy 
of Baden, where they were without difficulty allowed to present the 
Address to the Grand Duke, who very willingly received it. Copies were 
delivered or forwarded to his several Ministers; and also placed under 
the kind care of one of the Ministers to be sent to the professors in the 
Universities of Heidelberg and Freiburg, as well as to other persons 
of influence, both at Carlsruhe and in the territory of Baden. They 
went forward to Strasburg, which city they reached on the ISth of the 
2nd month. Josiah Forster then returned to England, and Francis Fry 
and Robert Alsop, jun. joined William Forster. 

Our three friends proceeded from Strasburg to Basle, in Switzerland, 
and, after attending to some service there, visited Berne, Lausanne and 
Geneva, distributing the paper entrusted to them at each place. In the 



15 

first of these three cities they saw the President of the Federal Council, 
and left copies of the Address for the members for the twenty-two can- 
tons, as well as for other influential persons. At Geneva they held a 
meeting with several religious characters of that city, with whom they 
had free communication on the object of their visit. This object was 
very cordially responded to ; an interest was awakened in the minds of 
those present ; and it was admitted that the intercourse between Geneva 
and the Brazils presents an opportunity for diffusing information on the 
subject of the Slave-trade. 

On the I4th of the 3rd mouth William Forster with his two compan- 
ions left Geneva, and, after passing the Alps, they were favoured to 
arrive in safety at Turin on the evening of Second-day, the 18th. 

After an unavoidable detention of several days, owing to the absence 
of Victor Emanuel II., the King of Sardinia, from that city, an inter- 
view was obtained with him, when the Address of the Yearly JMeeting 
was presented and kindly received. Translations of the same and of the 
Appeal into the Italian language had been prepared, and printed copies 
were presented in person to the several Ministers of State, and put in the 
way of distribution to the members of both Houses of the Legislature, 
to each of the professors of the University, to the Roman Catholic bis- 
hops in the kingdom, and to each of the Governors ot the several pro- 
vinces. 

Leaving Turin on the 1st of the 4th month, our friends reached Milan 
late that evening, where opportunities were afforded to present the paper 
to several of the nobility and others of influence. They went forward 
to Venice, and, tarrying there a few days, the way opened to obtain an 
interview with the Governor of the Province, and others in authority, 
civil and ecclesiastical. The Dukes of Parma and Modena, being in 
Venice at the time, interviews were sought and obtained to present the 
Address to them, and it was satisfactorily received. The Duke of Bor- 
deaux was also resident in that city : he was seen by our friends, and 
gave them a kind reception. They were at Verona, both on their wav 
to Venice and on their return. Marshal Eadetzky, the Governor of Aus- 
trian Lombardy, resident at that place, was visited ; and the paper was 
forwarded to several persons of influence there, as well as at Padua, 
where also it was generally distributed to the professors of the Uni- 
versity. 

Passing through the cities of Parma and Modena, the opportunities 
which presented were made use of to forward the Address to the Minis- 
ters and others within those small territories ; and our friends reached 
Florence on the 27th of the 4th month. 
It may be added, in concluding this narrative, that with very little ex- 



16 

ception, tlie Address, wlien not presented personally, was, on being for- 
warded, accompained by a note explaining in a few words its purport, 
and commending it to the serious attention of tbose to whom it was sent. 
And we may further remark, tliat whilst the primary object of the jour- 
ney was steadily kept in view, the performance of this service has also 
tended, as we believe, to the exaltation and spreading of the Truth, as it 
is in Jesus. The particulars conveyed in this Report may be thought 
to be simple details ; the nature of the undertaking, however, seems to 
preclude anything further. The course of proceeding adopted by the 
Yearly Meeting was an act of religious concern. The offer, by our 
friend William Forster, to be the bearer of the Address was made under 
a feeling of Christian duty. In that character he has been travelling, 
and both he and his companions felt that it was their place to keep this 
in view.* They have had satisfaction in the performance of their ser- 
vice. It did not seem to be the place of those who were thus engaged 
to attempt to point out any specific course of action, but to endeavour to 
awaken sympathy for the oppressed, and a willingness to be interested in 
their sufferings. 

We entertain the belief that so wide a diffusion of a paper advocating 
the principles of truth and righteousness and mercy has not been in vain, 
but that it will tend to the advancement of the great object which the 
Yearly Meeting felt itself called upon to promote. 

Signed on behalf and by direction of the Committee, 

Thos. Norton, Jun., Clerk. 
London, 29th of 5th mo., 1850. 



YEARLY MEETING, 1850. 

Repout is received from the Meeting for Sufferings of the atten- 
tion paid by the said meeting to the minute of this meeting of last 
year, respecting the presentation of the Address to Sovereigns 
and those in authority, on the subject of the Slave-trade and Sla- 

* On several subsequent occasions, as well as at Berlin, our dear friend William 
Forster felt called to some religious service in the ministry, for the discharge of 
which the way satisfactorily opened. 



17 

very ; together with a detailed narrative of the pi'oceedings of 
our dear friend William Forster and those who have successively 
accompanied him in the prosecution of the said service. The said 
Report and Narrative are very satisfactory to this meeting, and 
we desire to record our thankfulness to the Lord for the way 
which has been made for thus carrying out the religious concern 
of tlie Society. ^I'he subject is referred to the further care and 
attention of the Meeting for Sufferings, and to the continued in- 
terest and sympathy of Friends generall}'. 



Report of the Committee of the Meeting for Sufferings, SfC. 

In our last Report we informed the Meeting for Sufferings of the arrival 
in Florence of our friend William Forster, and his companions Francis 
Fry and Robert Alsop, jun., accompanied by William Rasche, a 
young Friend of Minden. They reached Florence on the 27th of the 4th 
month, 1S50 : a pretty large distribution of the Address was made 
among the Ministers of State (with some of whom personal interviews 
were obtained), the nobility, ecclesiastical officers and gentry. After a 
little tarriance, they found that the Grand Duke of Tuscany was in the 
country, but that they might expect an interview on his return : they 
therefore proceeded to Pisa, Lucca, and Leghorn, at each of which towns 
distribution was made of the Address. It was also presented to the pro- 
fessors of the University at Pisa, and to many of the ecclesiastical offi- 
cers in that place The professors of the University of Sienna were 
supplied by post. At Leghorn a large distribution of it was made 
among the higher class of the inhabitants, including consuls of different 
nations, merchants, and bankers. On the 11th of the 5th month the Ad- 
dress was presented to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, at Florence : he 
received it kindly, expressing much interest in the subject, and making 
numerous inquiries connected with it. Our friends arrived at Genoa on 
the 15th, in which city about 400 copies were circulated amongst the 
nobility, municipal authorities, professors, and merchants. About 90 co- 
pies were distributed to the principal authorities, physicians, advocates, 
and others, at Nice. 

Our friends arrived at Marseilles on the^23rd, when Francis Fry return- 
ed to England. At this important sea-port — one of the first in France — 

2 



18 

the prefect and mayor were personally visited and furnished with the 
Address, and about 450 copies were distributed amongst the civil autho- 
rities, professional men, merchants, and manufacturers. William Forster 
and Robert Alsop, jun., arrived at Nisraes on the 29th of the 5th month. 
The latter came home from this place ; the former tarried behind for a 
time, attending to some religious service among our friends in those parts, 
as he did in a few places in the department of the Ardeche and in the 
neighbourhood of Valence, on his way northwards, arriving at Paris about 
the ISth of the 6th month. In this city, after some little delay, an ap- 
pointment was made for presenting in person to Louis Napoleon Bona- 
parte, the President of the French Republic, a copy of the Address. 
In this interview he was accompanied by Josiah Forster, who had met 
his brother in that city, and Paul Bevan, one of this Committee, who 
was in Paris at the time. The Friends were well received, and an oppor- 
tunity was afforded for further pleading the cause of the oppressed. Copies 
of the Address were afterwards left at the hotels of the several Ministers 
of State, and also put in the way of circulation to the members of the 
National assembly, about 750 in number. Together with the Address 
copies were forwarded of the small tract on the present state of the 
Slave-Trade, which had been likewise circulated in the north of Italy. 
A supply was sent to Lyons from Paris, to be distributed among the in- 
fluential men in the former city. Our dear friend William Forster was favour- 
ed to arrive in safety and in health in England at the beginning of the 

7th month. 

Signed on behalf of the Committee, 

Thos. Norton, Jun., Cleric. 



YEARLY IM E E T I N G , 1851. 

Report is received iVom the Meeting for Sufferings, of the farther 
attention paid by that IMeeting to the piesentation of the Address 
to Sovereigns and those in authority, ou the subject of the Slave- 
tra.de and Slavery, together with a continued narrative of the 
proceedings of our dear friend William Forster and his compan- 
ions, in the prosecution of the said service. The subject is con- 
tinued under the care of the Meeting for Sufferings ; and this 
Meeting desires, at this time, to record its continued sympathy 
with our beloved friend William Forster, and its cordial unity 
with his services in carrying out the concern of the Yearly Meet- 
ing, and with his Gospel labours in the course of his several 
journies undertaken with that object. 



19 

1852. 

Report from the CoiiimiUca of the Meeting for Suffcrir.gs, ^yc. 

Ouii dear friend WillianiForster left London on the 11th of the 3rd montli 
1S51, accompanied by our friend Edmund Richards, of Redruth, in Corn- 
wall, for the purpose of presenting the Address to the Queen of Spain, 
and circulating copies of it among the inhabitants of that country, as the 
way might open. 

They arrived at Paris on the 13th, and staid in that city only as long- 
as it was necessary to print an edition of the Address in the French lan- 
guage. They left on the ISth and readied Bordeaux on the 20th, and 
were diligently occupied for a few days in preparing packets of the Ad- 
dress, with a short circular note commending its contents. Of these 
packets contained in envelopes they sent out about 300 copies, by special 
messenger, to merchants, professional men, and other influential inhabit- 
ants resident in a city which had in past years been deeply implicated 
both in the Slave-trade and in Slavery. On the 25th they left Bordeaux, 
and, tarrying at Bayonnefora day or two, pursued their journey. Sleeping 
one night at Burgos, they arrived at Madrid by the diligence in the after- 
noon of Second-day, the 5th of the 4tli month. They lost no time in 
putting themselves in communication with Lord Howden, the British 
Minister at the Court of Spain. He received them courteously, but 
gave them to understand that it would be very difficult to obtain a per- 
sonal interview with the Queen, and would take some time to bring it 
about : however, he kindly undertook to do his best. 

In the course of several days the way was opened for an interview ; 
and our two friends, accompanied by the Secretary of the British Minis- 
ter, he himself having left the city for Seville, were personally introduced 
to Isabella, Queen of Spain, on the evening of Seventh-day, the 10th of 
the-4th month, when the Address of the Yearly Meeting was handed to- 
her in its name and on its behalf. She replied that she had read it (copies'- 
having been previously forwarded) and received it with jileasure. After 
expressing a desire that the sympathy of the Queen might be awakened' 
to the sufferings of the African race, and her influence engaged for the 
removal of the evil, our friends withdrew. It was then thought desira- 
ble to present a copy to the Queen-Mother, Christina. Application was 
made in what was found to be the right quarter ; and on the afternoon 
of Third-day, the 13th, an opportunity was aftorded to present the Ad- 
dress to her in person. They had on the previous day called on the 
Prime Minister, accompanied by the Secretary of the British Minister, ta 



20 

obtain permission to print the Address at Madrid He read the Address, 
but was unwilling at that time to grant the liberty applied for. William 
Forster told him that, in all the European States where that liberty had 
been asked for, it had been granted. He was further reminded that it is 
righteousness which exalteth a nation, and that Spain could not expect 
the blessing of the Most High whilst she continued openly to yiolate the 
Divine law ; that this was not a mere political question, but one that had 
regard to the law of Divine justice. He behaved courteously, and said 
that he would advise about it. Hearing nothing for several days in re- 
ply to this application, our friends, on the 20th of the 4th month, had 
another interview with the Prime Minister. He read the Address with 
attention, and said that he saw nothing in it to prevent its being printed 
-and distributed, but he did not incline to give a written permission, add- 
ing, however, that in printing it no law would be violated. 

On the following day they put themselves in communication with a 
printer. "When it was ready for distribution they made up packets of the 
Address, with a lithographed circular, similar to that which had been 
used in other countries. This service occupied several weeks ; and in the 
course of the engagement they were satisfied that it was better to send 
the copies out from Madrid, where they had become well known to the 
British Minister and his Secretary and to the members of the Spanish 
Government, than to attempt to travel in Spain for the purpose of pre- 
senting the Address in person. 

They called, in the course of the time that they were at Madrid, on 
the Ambassadors from Naples, Austria, Holland, Sardinia, Belgium, and 
other European nations, as well as on those from Chili and Mexico : they 
also visited the Minister of the United States of America, to whom they 
presented copies of the Address, as well as to the several Ministers of 
the Crowii of Spain, either to themselves directly or through their Secre- 
taries. They saw the Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain, and the 
Patriarch of the Indies, Primate of the Colonies, both advanced in years, 
to whom they handed copies of the Address, and by whom they were 
kindly received. They had personal access to the father of the King of 
Spain, and handed him a copy in English. He at once liegan to read it, 
putting it into Spanish as he went on. They spoke freely to him on the 
■cruelty exercised towards the people of Africa, and besought his influence 
for the extinction of the Slave-trade : he was free and courteous in his 
behaviour. 

In proof of the diligence of our friends during their tarriance in this 
city we subjoin the following particulars of distribution :— 



21 





Copies, 


To Senators in Madrid, .... 


. 169 


Physicians " " 


20 


Lawyers " " . . . . 


. 58 


Ministers «' " .... 


6 


Professors " " 


. 79 


Principal Inhabitants .... 


755 


The Members of the New Cortes 


. 214 


Luis de Usos, for distribution . 


37 


Given personally, by calls on individuals 


. 355 



1693 

Sent and directed to the respective Members of the 
Committees of Societies for Beneficence and Health, 
in each Province of Spain, .... 464 

Sent to Burnel St. Sebastian, for distribution there, 
and by post to other places . . .75 



2232 



Sent by post, franked, to individuals in the Provinces, 
Yiz..^tQfJBishops ; Professors in the respective Uni- 
versities ; Secretaries of the Political Government 
in the Provinces ; Vice-Presidents in the Provincial 
Courts ; Inspectors of Instruction, primary, second- 
ary and third ; Directors of Superior and Elemen- 
tary Schools ; Teachers ; Directors and Secretaries 
of Economical Societies ; and Governors of Terri- 
torial Districts, .... 1098 

3330 



Before leaving the city our friends called on the different newspaper 
editors, and gave to each a copy of the Address, leaving it to the discre- 
tion or inclination of eacli to publish in their respective journals the 
whole or any part of the same. 

It will be obvious that great industry must have been used in maldng 
up, directing, and forwarding so many thousands of separate packets. The 
procuring of the proper addresses must have been no small labour ; and 
here we think it right to remark that care was scrupulously taken not to 



22 

make use of those complimentary titles ^\iiich are so common in address- 
ing men of influence and autliority, more especially in foreign countries — 
and indeed in addressing all persons of respectability. 

Although our friends tarried two mouths in Madrid, no way seemed to 
present for any public labours in the ministry of the Gospel on the part 
of our friend William Forster, whilst at the same time we feel warran- 
ted in saying that his mind was exercised en the subject, and open to any 
service, had the way been seen to perform it. They sat down regularly, 
both on First-day and in the course of the week, to hold their Meetings 
for Divine Worship, when we believe they were often refreshed in spirit 
together. On these occasions they generally had the company of a na- 
live of Spain, resident in Madrid, much attached to the religious princi- 
ples of Friends. 

When on the eve of their departure from Madrid, our friends forward- 
ed the following communication to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with 
a written request that its contents might be made known to the other 
Ministers of the Crown : 

•' To Bertram de Lis, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in the 
Government of Spain. 

" Having accomplished the object which brought us to this city, we 
feel that we can do no less, before we take our departure, than very 
gratefully acknowledge the kindness we have received from the Ministers 
of the Crown of Spain, and from others holding office in the Govern- 
ment; We are thankful that the way has been made for our obtaining 
access to the Sovereign of this realm, and that we have been permitted 
to discharge the duty entrusted to us by offering the Queen a copy of the 
Address from the religious Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ire- 
land, on the cruelty, the horrors, and the sinfulness of the African Slave- 
trade, and upon the injustice of Negro Slavery ; that so many of the 
Ministers of this Government have granted us an audience, and allowed 
us to present to them personally a copy of the Address; and that, during 
the many weeks we have spent in Madrid, we have met with no impedi- 
ment in attending to what we believed to be our duty, in sending the 
Address by special messenger to the houses of persons of rank and in- 
fluence in the city, and by post to those occupying stations of authority 
in the provinces. 

" We are strangers in a strange land ; but we trust we shall not be 
taking too much upon ourselves in again commending the object we have 
at heart to the sympathy and conscientious attention of the Ministers of 
the Crown ; it is an object of deep and constant solicitude to our breth- 



23 

ren in religious Society ; and it is that which has induced us in the de- 
cline of life to leave our homes, and to travel into a country so distant 
from our hahitations. 

" We humbly and earnestly beseech them to keep their hearts open to 
a sense of the sorrows and sufferings inilicted upon the people of Africa 
by the continuance of the Slave-trade, and to use all such means as com- 
port with the peaceable nature of the Christian religion in putting an 
end, at once and for ever, to the trade in Slaves from that Continent to 
the Spanish Colonies in the West Indies, and for the accomplishment of 
the abolition of Slavery itself, so that those now subject to its degradation 
and oppression may be put into poss'.-ssion of the rights and liberty enjoy- 
ed by other citizens of this nation. 

" We entertain a warm and lively interest in the welfare, the peace, 
and the prosperity of this great nat'on. It is our strong desire that it 
may please the Lord Almighty largely to bless the rulers of the land 
and the people whom they govern ; and that Spain may take her full 
share, in unison with the other nations of Europe, in promoting the im- 
provement, the civilization, and ths happiness of the inhabitants of Africa, 
and of the whole world. 

" William Forstek. 

" EOiMuxD Richards." 
■ " Madrid, 31st of the 5th month, 1851." 

It became a subject of very serious thought what course to take 
from ^Madrid : the weather was very hot, and the political f<tate of affairs 
in Portugal very unsettled. After desiring to be rightly directed, the 
way seemed open for our friends to proc-eed to Valencia, where they ar- 
rived on the 2nd of the Gih month. They tarried about a week in that 
city, and sent out to different persons of influence aud rank about 300 
copies of the Address. 

On the 15th, after a journey of 42 hours, our friends reached Barcelona. 
Considering it necessary to see the authorities of the place before attempt- 
ing the distribution of the Address, they first saw the Captain-General, 
the highest military authority in the province of Catalonia, of which 
Barcelona is the capital : he heard all they had to say, and said it should 
have his consideration. They then saw the Civil Governor, and asked 
leave to distribute the Address : he requested time to read it, and to re- 
turn an answer through the British Consul. They received permission 
the next day. Our friends sent out by special messenger, directed to 
those in authority, and to other principal inhabitants in this city, about 
700 copies, and forwarded through the post to the adjacent towns and to 
the Spanish islands in the Mediterranean about 400 copies, being 1,100 



24 

in all, besides those ^Ybicll they distributed personally in a city in whicli 
there are large numbers directly or indirectly engaged in or dependent 
upon the Slave-trade, from the coast of Africa to the islands of Cuba and 
Porto-Rico. 

After this, the way seemed to open for their leaving Spain : they pro- 
ceeded by diligence to Perpignan, and thence travelled to Toulouse, in 
the South of Prance. Here they sent out IGO copies of the Address, 
directed to the principal inhabitants of the place.. The way satisfac- 
torily opened, both at Toulouse and at Montauban, for religious service, 
in a Meeting with some serious Protestants at the former place, and with 
the Students of the Protestant Colh ge in the latter town. 

Our dear friends left Montauban on the 7th of the 7th month, and, 
travelling diligently, were favoured to arrive in safety in London on the 
11th of the same month, 1851. 

Signed on behalf of the Committee, the 11th of the 5th month 
1852, 

JOSIAH FORSTER. 



At a Electing for Sufferings, held the 5lh cf the 3rd mo., 1852. 

The Committee appointed to attend to the presentation of the Address 
on the Slave-trade and Slavery, have proposed to this IMeeting that steps 
betaken fnr its presentation at the Court of Portugal ; and they have 
brought forward the names of our friends John Candler and Robert 
Were Fox as willing to undertake this service, if approved by this 
Meeting. The proposal has engaged our serious deliberation, and, being 
cordially united with, our dear friends are accordingly appointed to this 
service, with a feeling desire on our behalf that the Divine hand may 
sustain them in tliis arduous undertaking, and that a blessing may rest 
upon their labours. 



Report of the Visit to Portugal of Robert Were Fox and John 

Candler. 

These Friends left Southampton on the 27th of 3rd month, and arrived 
at Lisbon after a passage of six days. They took with them letters of 



25 

recommeiulatiou from the Earl of Malmesbury, Secretary of State for 
Foreign Aifairs, and the Count Lavradio, the Portuguese Ambassador in 
London. On landing at Lisbon they put themselves into early communi- 
cation with Sir Richard Pakeuham, the British Minister. A private in- 
terview with the Queen was kindly arranged by the Minister of the In- 
terior : a copy of the Address was previously furnished, and a day fixed 
for the reception. In the interval of ten days that ensued, our friends 
were employed in getting the Address translated into Portuguese and 
prepared for the press, and in making calls on the Ministers of State and 
other persons of influence, with whom they were permitted to converse 
freely and confidentially on the object of their mission. They had a very 
satisf^ictory interview with the Viscount Sa de Baudeira, a former Minis- 
ter of State, and a long-tried friend of the oppressed African race, whose 
heart was still warm in the cause of Emancipation, and who gave them' 
every encouragement to- go on with their work. " Portugal," he said," is too 
poor to offer compensation to its numerous Slave-owners for immediate 
Emancipation ; " but he thought the Government might be induced to 
pass a Law declaring free all the children of slaves hereafter to be born, 
and to secure freedom to such slaves from other countries as might find 
their way into any of the Portuguese possessions. The conversation 
with which they were favoured by different members of the Government, 
the admissions made and the assurances given, led our friends to believe 
that such a beginning will soon be made in this great work of humanity 
and justice. On the day appointed for their reception, they repaired to 
the Palace, and were introduced to the Queen and King-consort by the 
Home and Foreign Ministers ; and after presenting the Address, w^iich 
the Queen kindly received, the King, on behalf of them both, said, "We 
are glad to see you in Portugal : we had heard of your coming by the 
Count Lavradio. Your object is a good one : every one who has a feel- 
ing heart must feel it to be so. You desire the overthrow of Slavery ; sa 
do we, but it is a difficult question : there are difficulties attending it here, 
as well as in other countries." Our friends admitted this, but respect- 
fully intimated that the subject was one of great importance. England, 
they said, was anxious to see Slavery abolished everywhere, and the So- 
ciety of Friends in that country felt so strongly on the subject that they 
had thought it right to address, in like manner, most of the Courts of 
Europe. The King again expressed his assent to the views of the So- 
ciety, and again alluded to the difficulties that encompass the question of 
Emaneipation. He then added a few kind words to Robert Were Fox, 
whose family had been so long connected, as Consuls, with Portugal, and 
our friends withdrew. 

They now felt themselves at liberty to circulate the Address, which. 



26 

after being faithfully translated, had been printed at the National Press. 
They sealed and directed some hundreds of copies of it to the Peers, De- 
puties, Counsellors of State,. and to some of the merchants in Lisbon. 
They had intended making a still wider distribution, but felt relieved 
from the need of doing so by the publication of the document itself in the 
Diario do Governo, the leading daily journal of Lisbon, which has a wide 
circulation in that city and the provinces, and which, from being the or- 
gan of the Government, finds its way into Brazil. The document was 
also published, before they left Lisbon, in another of the daily papers, 
and was prefaced with recommendatory remarks in both. Our friends 
made a journey to St. Ubes, about 20 miles from Lisbon, which was re- 
presented to them as being the third town of Portugal in point of impor- 
tance, and as containing 20,000 inhabitants. Here they gave av/ay a few 
copies of the Address, and left others v.'ith a merchant for distribution. 
The wretched state of the roads in that country,- which makes travelling 
on horseback very difficult and tedious, deterred them from attempting to 
visit, as they had thought of doing, the distant cities ofCoimbra and Oporto. 
An English merchant, long resident in Portugal, relieved them, in part, of 
this difficulty. He engaged to forward copies of the Address to both 
places for private circulation, confiding them in one case to a professor 
of the University of Coimbra, in the other to his own partner in trade at 
Oporto. Another mercantile house undertook to send copies of it to 
some of the smaller towns. Besides placing twenty of these Addresses 
with the British Episcopalian Minister at Lisbon, also with Dr. Gomes 
(a converted Eoman Catholic, who preaches Protestant doctrines to a 
small congregation in his own house,) and a similar number with the fe- 
male visitors of a free school, for distribution, as these parties should 
severally see fit, our friends made calls at the houses of some persons of 
influence, and there left a few copies. They paid a visit to the Pope's 
Nuncio, and endeavoured to interest him in this cause of humanity. The 
Nuncio received them politely, and told them that if, after reading the 
paper, he approved it, he should be quite willing to promote its circula- 
tion. On calling at the palace of the Cardinal Patriarch they obtained 
an Interview with his Secretary, who stated, with seeming approval, that 
the Cardinal had already become acquainted with the object of their visir 
to Portugal, through the medium of the Government journal, and with 
the Address itself. He accepted copies in the French and Portuguese 
languages. 

Although the stay of our friends in Portugal was not of long duration, 
they feel much satisfaction in having paid this visit, which they believe 
to have been well timed. The subject of putting an end to Slavery in the 
Portuguese colonies had already engaged the attention of the Government ; 



27 

and our friends are of the opinion Ibat the strong Christian interest 
manifested by our religious Society in regard both to Slavery and the 
Slave-trade, and the earnest Christian pleading put forth in the Address 
of which they vere the bearers, will prove a means, under the Divine 
blessing, of accelerating the great object which the Society has so long 
had at heart. 

They advert, with much satisfaction, to the open and friendly manner 
in wbich they were received, and the sincerity evinced by all the members 
of the Portuguese Government with whom they conferred, and quote with 
pleasure the remarks made to them by the Minister of the Interior at 
parting : — " I am sorry that I cannot express myself to you in English 
so readily as I should like to do ; but we wish you to understand that it 
is our earnest desire to get rid of Slavery." 

The British lilinister was requested to thank the Portuguese Govern- 
ment for the kind attention which our friends had experienced during 
their stay at the capital, which he kindly undertook to do. They left 
Lisbon on the 29th of 4th month, after a sojourn there and in its 
neighbourhood of nearly four weeks, and reached home in health and 
safety a few days after. 



YEARLY MEETING, 1852. 

The minutes of the Meeting for Sufferings made since our last 
Meeting, upon the subject of the presentation of the *' Address to 
Sovereigns and others in authority, on the Slave-trade and Slavery," 
have been now read, as well as Narratives of the proceedings of 
our friends William Forster and Edmund Richards in the presen- 
tation of the same at the Court of Spain, and its circulation in 
that country, and of our friends John Candler and Robert Were 
Fox. in a similar service, at the Court and in the kingdom of 
Portugal. The said Reports are very satisfactory, and we desire 
to record our reverent thankfulness in the belief that the Divine 
blessing has been graciously permitted to attend the prosecution 
of this important service, which appears now. to a large extent, 
to be completed so far as regards the Continent of Europe. 

The subject of the presentation and circulation of the aforesaid 
Address in the countries on the other side of the Atlantic, more 
especially the Empire of Brazil and the United States of North 
America, has again engaged the serious concern ol this Meeting. 



28 



Under a renewed feeling of weighty exercise, we desire to encour- 
age the Meeting for Sufferings to direct continued attention to the 
completion of this religious engagement, as way may appear 
suitably to open. 



At a Meeting for Sufferings held the Gth of Sth mo., 1852 :— 

At our last Meeting information was received from the Committee who 
have under their care the Address on the Slave-trade and Slavery, that 
they had under their deliberate consideration the presentation of the Ad- 
dress at the Cuurt of the Emperor of the Brazils, and that our friend 
John Candler had informed them that he believed it would be right for 
him to place himself at the disposal of the Society for this service, the 
subject having at times rested with weight upon his mind, and that he 
now felt it to be his religious duty to offer to be engaged therein, if 
Friends believed it right for the service to be undertaken. The Meeting 
was enabled to enter solidly into the consideration of this important sub- 
ject, and much sympathy was expressed with our dear friend John Cand- 
ler, and concurrence with the proposal, and the Meeting concluded to 
encourage him to look towards entering upon the service. The 
Committee are left at liberty to conclude an arrangement with any 
Friend whom they may consider suitalde to proceed as a companion with 
our friend John Candler on his proposed visit to Brazil. 

In pursuance of the authority given by the foregoing minute, the 
Committee cordially accepted the offer of our friend Wilson Burgess for 
this service. 



Report of the Visit of John Candler and Wilson Burgess to (he 

Brazils. 

We embarked at Southampton, on the 9th of 9th mo., 1852, on board 
the " Severn," and, after a passage of twenty-nine days, landed at E,io 
de Janeiro on the 9th of 10th mo. We pretty soon put ourselves in 
communication with Henry Southern, our Ambassador at the Court of 
Brazil, to whom we delivered a letter, addressed to him by the Earl of 
MaLnesbury as Foreign Secretary : he told us he would forward our ob- 
ject to the utmost of his power, not only on account of the desire 



29 

expressed by the Earl of Malmesburj^ that he should do so, but also on 
aecouiit of the mterest he himself felt in the object of our mission. We 
also called upon Paulino, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who received 
us courteously, and expressed his belief that the African Slave-trade had 
nearly, if not entirely, ceased in Brazil : he promised to procure us an early 
interview with the Emperoi*. In a few days we received from liim a no- 
tice that the Emperor would receive us at his Palace of Christovao, 
about four miles from the city of Rio ; accordingly we repaired thither 
on Seventh-day, the 16th of 10th mo., and had a very unceremoni- 
ous, and, on the whole, satisfactory interview with him. We explained 
to him the object of our coming to Brazil, telling him that our religious 
Society had thought it right to draw up an Address to Sovereigns and 
those in authority on the subjects of Slavery and the Slave-trade, which 
had been presented to many of the crowned heads in Europe, and ex- 
pressed our hope that the Emperor would condescend to receive a copy 
of it also : he immediately said, " I will receive it with pleasure and 
read it." We then expressed our gratification at finding the Slave-trade 
nearly, if not quite, abolished in Bi'azil : the Emperor said he wished to 
see it put an end to all over the world. Having, in conclusion, expressed 
our desire that the Divine blessing might rest upon the Emperor, Empress 
and their children, and upon the country : the Emperor said, " I thank 
you very much :" this terminated the interview. From all we heard, we 
believe the Emperor is sincerely desirous that an entire stop should be 
put to the Slave-trade. Subsequently we had interviews with Euzebio, 
the late Minister of Justice, Vasconcellos, the Minister of Police, and 
Sauza Ramos, the present Minister of Justice, all of whom concurred in 
stating it as their belief that the African Slave-trade had entirely ceased 
as regarded Brazil. We left a copy of the Address with each of these 
individuals, and, during our stay in Rio Janeiro and its neighbourhood, 
distributed a considerable number of copies amongst the merchants and 
planters as way opened. 

We called upon the editors of the two principal daily newspapers 
who both agreed to insert it. One of the papers, after giving an account 
of our interview with the Emperor, did insert the latter portion, which 
relates to the Slave-trade : but so long as we staid in Rio Janeiro it 
never appeared in the other, which is the principal paper and has the 
largest circulation, notwithstanding we called repeatedly, and as often 
received fair promises. We were anxious to obtain its insertion in the 
newspapers of the country, believing it would be more eflSciently circula- 
ted in that way than in any other. Amongst the copies distributed by 
post we addressed one to each of the 62 nobles, excepting a few then in 



30 

Lisbon, to 30 peerCvSses, 58 senators, and 109 representatives, one arch- 
bishop and nine bishops. Finding the newspapers at Rio Janeiro had 
not inserted it, we availed ourselves of the offer of a warm-hearted 
abolitionist in that city to circulate it amongst the Brazilian merchants, 
and requested him to get 300 copies printed for that purpose, which, so 
far as we know, msij now be in a course of distribution. After a stay of 
five weeks in the capital and its neighbourhood we proceeded to Bahia, 
where we had an interview with the Archbishop and the President of the 
Province : both expressed their interest in the object of our mission ; the 
former had some time before delivered an excellent speech in the House 
of Representatives against the Slave-trade : both received us in a kind 
manner. From Bahia we went to visit a large sugar-plantation on the 
River Paraguassa, about 45 miles distant, where we were kindly received, 
and had an opportunity of considerable conversation with the owner on 
the subjects of Slavery and the Slave-trade, as well as with other indi- 
viduals, also slave-holders, to whom we were introduced in the same 
neighbourhood. We sent, through the post, copies of the Address to 
several individuals at Bahia who had been largely engaged in the 
African Slave-trade, and we had an interview with Junqueira, one of the 
Chief Judges of the Province, who, as well as his son, appeared an en- 
lightened man, with whose sentiments on various subjects we were 
pleased : the son of the judge is a member of the Provincial House of 
Representatives : he appeared to be much impressed with reading the 
Address. The English Consul at Bahia was so kind as to procure the 
insertion of it in the principal newspaper of that district, which is pub- 
lished daily : we were rather surprised at this, as Bahia has long been a 
stronghold of the African Slave-trade, and, from various causes, a great- 
er degree of jealousy is believed to exist there as regards any iuterf. rence 
with the slaves than in other parts of Brazil. 

After a stay of eighteen days at Bahia and neighbourhood, we pro- 
ceeded to Pernambuco, the third city in size in Brazil, where we had an 
interview with the President of the Province and the Bishop, who both 
received us kindly : the former wrote to H. A. Cowper, the English 
Consul at Pernambuco, expressing his interest in the subject of the Ad- 
dress, and offered his assistance in forwarding our object. We after- 
wards sent copies of the Address to a number of influential individuals, 
including the twelve Chief Justices of the Province, who had, we under- 
stood, an important case before them at that time to adjudicate upon, in 
connexion with a recent contemplated rising of Slaves in the neighbour- 
ing Province of Alagoas. Upon the whole, though but little fruit may 
be apparent from our visit to Brazil, and though we must confess there 
is but little indication of such a change m the public mind as to lead us 



31 

to hope that Slavery is near its end in that fine countrj% yet we believe 
it was a timely visit, inasmuch as the excitement consequent on the 
sudden and we believe nearly total stoppage of the African Slave-trade 
had subsided, and perhaps the minds of some persons were prepared to 
entertain the consideration of the subject of the abolition of Slavery 
itself. We trust there is an influence at work in regard to it, which may, 
in the Lord's own time, produce fruits ; and the very fact of the Society 
of Friends sending a deputation purposely on this subject seemed to 
excite attention and to produce thoughtfuluess on this important ques- 
tion in the minds of many. While we were at Rio Janeiro a Special 
Meeting of the " Society against the Traffic in Africans and for pro- 
moting Colonization and the Civilization of the Indians," was held, in 
accordance with the followng advertisement in the newspapers :-- 

" F.XTRAORDINARY SESSION. 

" The Directors invite all Members, and those persons who interest 
themselves in the cause of the Society, to attend a Meeting that will 
take place on Thursday, the 11th inst., at 6 o'clock in the evening, in the 
Saloon da Floresta, with the assistance of the deputation from London 
of the Eeligious Society of Friends, of Great Britain and Ireland. 

" Dr. Manuel da Cunha Galvao, 
"2nd Sccrefari/." 

In accordance with which 35 gentlemen assembled, including the Presi- 
dent, Dr. Frango Leite, Viscount Barbaceni, Leopolda da Lima, Dr. 
Cochrane, &e. The President has liberated all his slaves. The Meet- 
ing was opened by the President delivering a short address, sitting, 
which was succeeded by the Vice-President reading an address in Portu- 
guese, and another individual one in French. Viscount Barbaceni then 
related to us the objects of the Society, which had its origin two years 
and a half ago, and at first consisted of only 21 members ; now it num- 
bers 215, which is evidence of .a growth of interest in the subject : the 
first object of the Society was to oppose the Slave-trade, then to pro- 
mote emigration into Brazil of white labourers, and civilize the Indians, 
and, finally, to promote the extinction of Slaver}'. J. Candler then 
gave a short account of the working of emancipation in the English 
West-India Colonies, and referred to the exertions which had been made 
in England, and the way in which the abolition of Slavery had been 
brought about with us. Leopolda da Lima, a public functionary, inter- 
preted the substance of his remarks to the Meeting. Wilson Burgess 
then made a few remarks, expressing the pleasure he felt at the existence 
of such Society in Brazil, and the increase of interest as evinced by the 
number of its members. 



32 

The fact of the existence of this Society in Brazil is important. The 
alteration of public feeling in regard to Slavery and the Slave-trade is so 
great, that, although five or six years ago it would not have been tolera- 
ted, it now holds its meetings with open doors. 

During our stay in Brazil we were received by various individuals 
wirh whom we came in contact, or to whom we were introduced, with 
much kindness and hospitality, and what we had to say on the subject of 
Slavery and the Slave-trade was listened to with patience and attention. 
Probably it was the first time that a number of these individuals had 
ever heard the lawfulness of holding slaves called in question. We may, 
with thankfulness, acknowledge that we were preserved in tolerable 
health throughout our whole journey, although yellow fever existed, 
both at Eio Janeiro and Bahia, while we were there, and the great heat 
was also at times trying. We reached Southampton on the J 5th of 1st 
mo., and were favoured to bear the voyage home without any material 
suffering. 

N.B. Since the return of the Deputation, it has been ascertained that 
the Address in Portuguese was published, at full length in the ' Journal 
do Commercio,' at the capital, a newspaper in the interest of the Go- 
vernment, and more widely circulated in Brazil than any other. 



YEARLY MEETING, 1853. 
Tliird-day afternoon, 2Uh of 5th month. 

A Report to tlie Meeting for Sufferings, of the visits of our friends 
John Candler and Wilson Burgess to Brazil, for the purpose of 
presenting and circulating the Address of this Meeting on the sub- 
ject of Slavery and the Slave-trade, has now been read. The 
said Report is interesting and satisfactory to this Meeting. The 
preservation of our dear friends in this arduous undertaking, and 
the remarkable manner in which way was made for the prosecu- 
tion of it, we feel to be cause for grateful acknowledgment to 
the Lord. 



33 

Fiutlicr proceedings of the YeatJy Meeting, of 1853. 
Tkird-day afternoon, 2VJi of bill month. 

The following minute has been received from the Meeting for 
Sufferings, and has now been read ; — 

" At (I Meeting for Sufferings, held by adjournment the llth of 
5th month, 1853. 

" The Address of the Yearly Meeting of 1849, on the subjects of 
Slavery and the Slave-trade, has been read again amongst us, and, in 
connection -with the exercise of the last Yearly Meeting on the subject, 
introdnced this Meeting into serious consideration in reference to its 
presentation to the President of the United States of America, and 
others in authority in that land, as vrell as its right disposal and circula- 
tion in that widely-extended Republic. We apprehend that the time has 
nearly arrived when this Address should be brought before the rulers of 
the United States ; and although we bear in mind the interest which our 
dear friends in America, in common with ourselves, have long felt and 
still feel relative to our ancient testimony therein set forth, this Meeting 
has not seen its way to relievo Friends in this land of the weight of a 
concern which arose with them. The subject of a deputation to that 
country has therefore come under our very serious deliberation, but 
the step has been felt too important and grave to be concluded upon by 
any other body than the Yearly Meeting itself." 

The Address of this Meeting in 1849, on the subject of the 
Slave-trade and Slaverj', has also been read. In deliberating upon 
this deeply important subject, this Meeting has been afresh intro- 
duced into a feeling of religious concern, under which we have 
been brought to the conclusion that it is our Christian duty to 
proceed in the presentation of the said Address to the President 
of the United States, and others in authority in that land. The 
consideration of the course it may be desirable to take for carry- 
ing out the concern of this jNIeeting is referred to the following 
Friends to report to a future sitting of this ]\leeting. 



Seventh-day morning, 28th of 5th month. 

The follov/ing Report has been received from the Committee 

appointed to consider the course it may be desirable to take for 

carrying out the concern of this Meeting, in the presentation of 

the Address on the Slave-trade and Slavery in the United States 

of Ameiica. 

3 



34 

" To the Yearly Meeting. 

" We have met several times, and have been favoured to enter into 
very serious deliberation on the subject of the presentation of the Address 
on the Slave-trade and Slavery to the President of the United States of 
America, and to others in authority in that country ; and our dear friends 
Josiah Forster, William Forster, John Candler and William Holmes, 
having surrendered themselves to the disposal of their brethren for the 
service, we cordially recommend them to the Yearly Meeting as a depu- 
tation for the performance of this weighty engagement. 

" Signed on behalf and by direction of the Committee, 27th of 5th 
mo., 1853, 

" JoH?J HoDGKiN, Clerk." 



Minute of the same date, appointing the Deputation to the Service. 

The Address on the Slave-trade and Slavery which was issued 
by this Meeting in the year 1S49 has been again read, under a 
renewed feeling of the same religious concern in which it origina- 
ted. During the four years which have since elapsed the Address 
has been personally presented by special deputation on behalf of 
this Meeting to most of the Sovereigns of Europe, and to the Em- 
peror of Brazil, as well as to many others in authority in each of 
the countries visited by these deputations; and this Meeting 
thinks it right gratefully to record its reverent sense of the Divine 
assistance which has been graciously afforded in the prosecution 
of that part of the service which has already been accomplished. 
On seriously deliberating in the fear of the Lord, upon that 
which may yet remain to be performed of the religious duty laid 
upon us as a church in this matter, we believe that the time is 
come for presenting the Address to the President and others in 
power in the United States of America. Under a solemn sense 
of the weighty and important character of the mission, we ac- 
cordingly appoint our beloved friends Josiah Forster, William Fors- 
ter, JohnC.mdler and William Holmes (of whom William Forster 
and John Candler are ministers of the Gospel, and Josiah Forster 
and William Holmes elders in our religious Society) a deputation to 
proceed to America and present the Address to the President and 
other Members of the Federal Government, to Governors of States* 
and others in authority in that great Republic. 



We encourage these oar clear friends to proceed in the prosecu- 
tion of the important duty confided to them in such manner as, in 
dependence upon the wisdom that is from above they may deem 
best, craving that the blessing of the Lord may rest upon the 
work in which they are about to engage, and commending them 
to the Christian kindness and consideration of those with whom 
they may have intercourse, and especially to the sympathy and help 
of our dear American brethren, members of our religious Society, 
who have so long laboured in the same righteous cause. 

Signed by direction and on behalf of the Meeting, 

Joseph Thorp, 
Clej^Jc to the fleeting this ?jcar. 



Farther ISIinute, of the same date. 

In order that the important concern developed in the preceding 
minute may, with brotherly confidence, be brought at as early a 
period as possible to the notice of our dear friends in America, 
and particularly to the respective Meetings for Sufferings in that 
land, we think it right to instruct the correspondents in London of 
the several American Yearly Meetings, to transmit copies of the 
said minute to their respective correspondents in America; and 
we desire to commend our beloved friends composing the deputa- 
tion in an especial manner to the kind Christian sympathy and 
regard of the aforesaid Meetings for Sufferings. And it is further 
referred to the Meeting for Sufferings in London, to afford the de- 
putation appointed under the foregoing minute the requisite assis- 
tance in the performance of the service entrusted to them. 



1 8 5 A 



Report on the presenfation. and circulation of the Address in the 
United States of America. 

We embarked at Liverpool on the 3rd of the ninth month, 1853, and 
were favoured to arrive at Boston on the 15th of the same mouth, in 
health and safety. Here we were met and kindly welcomed by several 
Friends, of New England Yearly Meeting, who had hcen appointed by 



their Meeting for Sufferings to render us any assistance in their power. 
At New York we met a similar Committee ; and at Philadelphia and Balti- 
more we had interviews with the Correspondents of those two Yearly 
Meetings. On all these occasions our dear friends manifested much sym- 
pathy with us in the object of our appointment, but they were united in 
the conclusion that it would be best for us to proceed alone in the perfor- 
mance of the service : and in this we believe they judged rightly. 

We first went to Washington, and after a little detention, occasioned 
by the state of his health, the President of the United States, Franklin 
^Pierce, readily made way for our seeing him. On the 1st of the tenth 
month we were received by him with much affability and courtesy, and 
presented the Address of the Yearly Meeting. We adverted to the reli- 
gious concern of that Meeting in 1849, which gave rise to it, and under 
which concern it had continued to act, and commended the Address to 
his serious and attentive perusal ; an immediate conference with his Ca- 
binet was assigned as a reason for our not reading the same. He appre- 
ciated the motive of our Society, and treated their conviction of religious 
duty in reference to the matter considerately and respectfully. Upon 
being informed that we had it in prospect to travel for the purpose of 
presenting the Address to the Governors of the different States of the 
Union, he offered no discouragement, but told us he believed we should 
be well received ; and we withdrew, satisfied with the interview thus 
granted. 

We then proceeded without loss of time to Richmond, in Virginia, 
one of the older States, in which there are about 470,000 slaves.* The 
Governor, Joseph Johnson, was not in the city ; but we afterwards met 
with him at his farm in the northern part of the State on our way west- 
ward : though himself a slave-holder, he patiently listened to the whole 
of the Address; and gave us, in some conversation afterwards, the .op- 
portunity of commending it to his best feelings and serious reflection. 
We went forward into the free state of 0/tio ; the Governor, William 
Medill, wasno't at Columbus, but we saw him at Lancaster, about twenty- 
five miles distant. Kcntucly was the next State which we were in; it con- 
tains about 210,000 slaves, and we found the Governor, Lazarus W. 
Powell, at Frankfort, the place of his residence. He also is a slave-hol- 
der, and heard the Address attentively ; and we pressed the whole sub- 
ject upon his conscience plainly but respectfully. Returning to Cincin- 
nati, after visiting some of our friends of Indiana Yearly Meeting, we 
went on to Indianapolis. "the chief city of Indiana, where we found the 
Governor, Joseph A. Wright, and had an interview with him. At 

* The number of slaves in the several States is taken from the Census of the Uni- 
ted States Government of 1850, published by its authority. 



Springfield, the cliief city of Illinois, we did not meet with the Governor, 
Joel A. Matteson, but proceeded to Jolliet, the place of his residence, 
where we soon saw hira. After some consideration, we concluded to go 
into Wisconsin, and at Madison, the chief city of the Slate, we had an 
interview with Leonard J. Farwell, the Governor. We urged upon the 
Governors of these three Free States that there is a part which they can 
take in hastening the termination of this unrighteous system. We did not 
turn aside into Michigan on the East, or into Iowa on the West, the 
chief cities of which were not very accessible : they are Free States. 
We then went on, without delay, towards the southern Slave States, and 
arrived on the 17th of the eleventh month at the large city St. Louis, in 
the State of Missouri, in which State are about 87,000 slaves. We 
were detained there several days, in the course of which time we saw 
the Governor, Sterling Price, at Jefferson city, 130 miles to the West, 
on the Missouri river : he received our visit kindly, and heard the Ad- 
dress patiently ; but he afterwards wrote to us a letter, expressing his 
dissatisfaction with our proceedings, which letter was printed in the 
newspapers. 

We were now at liberty to go southward, and embarked on board a 
steamer ou the Mississippi river. We were eight days on the waters of 
that stream, and travelled upon it upwards of 1000 miles. On the whole 
of its western shore, as we went down, are Slave States ; and the same 
may be said of the eastern bank, below the Ohio river ; and this sad 
blot on the national character stretches eastward across the country -to 
the Atlantic Ocean. Thus we find that even after excluding the large 
new Slave State of Texas, this condition of society prevails over more 
than one half in extent of the United States, under a government other- 
wise distinguished by its large amount of civil and religious liberty, and 
over a region upon which the merciful and all-wise Creator of the human 
race, t-he Father of the children of men, has bestowed a fertile soil and a 
genial climate. This circumstance may be familiar to many ; but wo 
have fonnd the realizing of the fact to be fraught with sorrowful feelings, 
— feelings which we warmly desire may be those of every one who visits 
those States. May none of the millions -of emigrants from Great Britain 
or Ireland, from Germany, Norway, or other countries, ever allow them- 
selves, by familiarity with slavery, to become indifferent to the unrighte- 
ousness of the system, or in any wis(! to countenance its existence. 

We landed on the 7th of the twelfth month at Baton Kouge, the chief 
city of Louisiajia, in which State are about 240,000 slaves, chiefly em- 
ployed in the cultivation of sugar ; and the next day we had an inter- 
view with the Governor, P. 0. Hebcrt. We returned up the river 270 
miles to Yicksburg, and proceeded thence to Jackson, the scat of gov- 



38 



ernment of Mississippi, a State in which there are upwards of 300,000 

slaves. Here we found the Governor, Foote, and were received 

by him without any difficulty. The next State which came in course 
was Alabama, with more than 340,000 slaves. To reach Montgomoy, 
the chief city, where the Governor, Henry W. Collier, was residing, we 
travelled by stage three days and three nights across the country. The 
day after our arrival we had a full opportunity of communicating with 
■ him. In the night of the 18th we went forward by the railroad towards 
Milledgeville, in the old State of Georgia, where there are 380,000 slaves. 
Here v.'e met the Governor, H. V. Johnson,and he permitted us to perform 
the service assigned to us without restraint. These three last-mentioned 
States vrere, with a small exception, at one time all included in the single 
State of Georgia : from them come the larg€ supplies of cotton used in 
this country, and in them are to be found upwards of 1,000,000 slaves, a 
very large proportion of whom are employed in the cultivation of this 
plant. As we traversed Georgia, we were told that we were passing 
across lands which, within less than twenty years, had been occupied by 
the Cherokee Indians, and which they had tilled after industriously 
clearing them of the forests, but which they were compelled by the 
United Stafe-i' Government to vacate, and then to remove to the West 
of the Mississippi river ;— an event in history, which, though not having an 
immediate reference to our errand, may not unsuitably be thus brought 
before our friends, and which is well calculated to awaken feelings of 
pity and of sorrow for the native inhabitants of the wilderness. 

The State of Florida, with 39,000 slaves, lay so far to the South that 
we did not attempt to visit it. We had passed by Arkansas, vath 47,000 
slaves, of which the chief city, Little Eock, was not easy of access ; and, 
on ax^count of its distance, we had omitted going into Texas, another 
State with 58,000 slaves. This consideration applied with yet greater 
force to the far distant Free State of California. We proceeded out of 
Georgia to Columbia, in Soiith Carolina, in which State rice and cotton 
are the staple productions of the country, and in which are 380,000 slaves, 
more in number than the free coloured inhabitants of the State. The 
Governor, John L. Manning, ai: once made way for a visit to him, which 
we paid the day after our arrival. It became a subject of serious thought 
whether we should now travel so far out of a direct course as to go into 
the State of Tcfinessce ; but after some deliberation, it was determined 
not to omit that State of nearly 240,000 slaves, and we reached Nash- 
ville, the chief city, on the 27th of the twelfth month. The Governor, 
Andrew Johnson, readily granted us an interview, in which our pleadings 
on behalf of the oppressed were respectfully and attentively listened to. 
Thus in the course of one month we visited six of the Southern States, 



39 

deeply implicated iu the sia of Slavery, aud had the opportunity of read- 
ing the Address to their Governors, with an omission of a part of it in 
one instance, arising from peculiar circumstances. In consequence of 
our rapid travelling we saw very little of the real character of Slavery. 
But our visit in those fertile lands is associated with very painful reflec- 
tions, and our hearts are sad at the thought of the enormous iniquity 
which Slavery is there producing. 

On leaving the city of Nashville, we bent our course towards North 
Carolina, purposing on our way to tarry a while in East Tennessee. It 
is now Our painful duty to allude to a subject which brought ns into deep 
sorrow. Before leaving England, our beloved brother and friend, Wil- 
liam Forster, had received certificates for religious labour, as a minister 
of the Gospel, in some parts of America. — and, in one of our conferenjces 
in London, he had especially adverted to a visit to Friends in Tennessee. 
In the prosecution of this service we attended the two meetings of 
Hickory Grove and Friendsville, in that State, in which he was enabled 
to labour in much brightness and power in the service of the Gospel, 
setting forth the unsearchable riches of Christ. The last of these 
meetings was held on Second-day, the 2nd of the first month, 1854. 
The next day we travelled about eight miles on our way to a more 
distant meeting, but on the following morning our dear friend was taken 
very ill, and for several days he suffered acute pain. His strength 
gradually sunk under the disease, and, after being confined to his bed 
for about three weeks, during the whole of which time he was preserved 
in much sweetness of spirit, and endued with great patience and filial 
submission to the will of the Lord, he died on Sixth-day, the 27th of the 
first mouth, at the house of Samuel Lowe, near the Holstone river. Most 
tenderly did we feel this solemn event, by which not only was the 
Church deprived of a faithful and devoted minister, but, in the prosecu- 
tion of the particular service in which we were then engaged, his loss 
was deeply felt The meekness aud quietness of his demeanour, his 
sense of the seriousness of the service, as well as bis strong conviction 
of the righteousness of the cause, contributed greatly to make our way 
in the interviews with the Governors, and in the performance of the 
service generally. The wrongs and sufferings of the Skive had, in a re- 
markable manner, enlisted tlie tcnderest sympathies of our departed 
friend, and been borne upon his heart from his early youth and through- 
out the whole course of his devoted life. 

Notwithstanding our great loss, it was our obvious duty to proceed ; 
and we reached Raleigh, in North Carolina, on the 7th of the second 
month, and had a full and interesting interview with David S. Reid, the 
Governor of that State, in which are upwards of 280,000 slaves. At 



40 

Annapolis, in Maryland, in which State are about 75,000 slaves, we saw 
the Governor, Thomas W. Ligon. The cireumstauces of these two 
Slave States were severally pressed upon the close attention of the Go- 
vernors, and we w^ere kindly listened to. We went forward to the Free 
States, and on the 23rd saw Rodman M. Price, the Governor of New 
Jersey, at Trenton. At Providence, in Rhode Island, we were with 
Francis M. Dimond, the Governor : the next day we bad an interview 
at Boston with Emery Washburn, the Governor of MassacJmsctts ; and 
on the following day at Dover, with Noali Martin, the Governor of Nac 
HcunpsJiire. The day after we proceeded to Augusta, in the State of 
Maine, but tlie Governor had necessarily left the city in the morning. 
We returned and saw Charles H, Pond, the Governor of the State of 
Connecticut, at Milford. On the 7th of the thir-d month, we had a full 
opportunity at Albany with Horatio Seymour, the Governor of the 
State of New York; and the day followmg, John S. Robinson, the 
Governor of the State of Vermont, was seen at Bennington. On our 
return to Philadelphia we met with William Bigler, the Governor of the 
State of Vennsylvania : he was not at Harrisburg, his principal resi- 
dence, when we went to that city to seek an interview with him. The 
small State of Delaware, in which are upwards of 2200 slaves, now 
remained ; attempts were made to perform the visit to the Governor, 
but it could not be easily accomplished. We did not fail to point out to 
the Governors of the Free States the influence which they have the 
power of exercising in promoting the abolition of Slavery. 

It is a satisfaction to us to have to report, that in all our interviews 
with the Governors, of whom we saw twenty-three out of the thirty-one, 
we were kindly and respectfully received. With three exceptions, the 
whole of the Address was read to them. In two of these cases, the 
press of engagements seemed to preclude the propriety of reading it entire ; 
and, in the third instance, it was thought well to shorten the visit by 
omitting the paragraph on the African Slave-trade. In conclusion, .we 
may say that in all cases an opportunity was allowed and made use of 
for a free interchange of sentiment on the immediate object of our er- 
rand; and we are not aware that we separated from anyone Governor 
without commending to him the serious truths which had been introdaced 
to his notice. 

We "sent by post to the Governors of the States whom we had not 
seen, as well as to those of the territories of Minnesota, Oregon, New 
Mexico, Utah, and Washington, copies of the Address, with a short note, 
and a general circular, of which circular the following is a copy : — 

" Tlie enclosed Address, issued by the religious Society of Friends, in Great Bri- 
tain and Ireland, in the year 1849, ^vas preserit'ed in that and the following years to 



41 

most of the Sovereigns of Europe, ami also to tlie Emperor of the Brazil-s, by depu- 
tations appointed on behalf of that Ciiristian body; and it Avas kindly and respect- 
fully received. The Address was also forwarded to man}' in authority and of influence 
in those kingdoms and empires. The last Yearly ileeting of Friends held in London, 
felt it to be a matter of religious duty to proceed to the circulation of the Address 
in the United States of America. Four of its members were accordingly separated 
for the service, and came to America for that purpose ab<mt six months ago. They 
proceeded at once to Washington, and presented a copy to the President of the Uni- 
ted States, by whom they were received with courtesy and kind 'attention. They 
afterwards visited nearly all the midland and southern States; and were readily al- 
lowed an opportunity, not only to present but to read the Address to the Gov- 
ernors of those States. Soon after they had seen the Governor of Tennessee, one of 
their number, their beloved and honoured friend William Forster, who had taken a 
very active and useful part in this service, died after an illness of a few weeks, in the 
eastern part of that State. 

" We, the three survivors, have since been in the northern and eastern States of the 
Union. Interviews of a similar character have been promptly granted by the Gov- 
ernors to whom we have applied; but .notwithstanding this extended journey, we 
apprehend that we shall not fully discharge the commission entrusted to us, without 
giving a wider but still a private circulation to the Address : we therefore now for- 
ward a copy, with an earnest request that it may obtain thy calm and very serious 
perusal. Our hearts are warmed with a feeling of Christian love and goodwill, for 
the slave-holder and for the slave. Permit ns, at the same time, under a fresh and 
increased sense of the unrightousness and vast extent of Slavei-y, and of the inter- 
state Slave-trade in this land, to express an earnest desire, that in the exercise of a 
candid and impartial spirit, thou mayest be not only willing but anxious to perceive 
the M-ay, in which this complicated system of wrong and injustice can be speedily 
terminated. 

"We, are, respectfully,thy friends, 

" JOSIAH FoRSTER. 

" John Candler. 
" William Holmes. 
"Philadelphia, 3rd mo. 11th, 1854." 

We again went to the city of Washington, and saw the President, in- 
forming him of the course we had taken : he received us kindly. We 
called at the residences or at the offices of the members of his Cabinet, 
seven in number. They were much occupied with public business : we 
met with four, and presented the Address to them : and forwarded copies 
to the other three. On coming back to Philadelphia, copies of the Ad- 
dress and circular were prepared, with the kind assistance of some of 
our friends of that city : these were forwarded to the nine Judges of the 
Supreme Court at Washington,— to the members of Congress, about 290 
in numl)er,— to the members of the Senate and those of the House of Re- 
presentatives of the Legislatures in each separate State, so far as their 
post-office addresses could be then obtained. The Address was also 
transmitted to the Presidents of the numerous Universities of the Uni- 
ted States,— -to the supreme Judges in the several States ; and, with very 
little exception, to the influential ministers of religion of the different de- 
nominations, more especially in the Slave States, so far as we could 
succeed in obtaining the names of such. Between four and five thousand 
copies were thus put in circulation through the post. 

We now felt at liberty to return home, and emljarking at New York on 



42 

the 15th, landed at Liverpool on the 2Sth of the fourth month ; and were 
favoured to meet our several families in usual health. For the preserva- 
tion extended to us by sea and by land, in the course of our travels of 
upwards cf ten ^thousand miles in the United States, and for the many 
other mercie-5 granted to us by the Lord, we desire to be enabled rever- 
ently to offer the tribute of gratitude and praise. 

We would now take the liberty to subjoin some reflections suggested 
to our minds in the prosecution of our engagement. Our sense of the 
iniquity of Slavery, as it prevails in the country which we have visited- 
and of the evils inseparable from it, is not lessened by tarrying for sever, 
al weeks in Slave States. These iifteen States are contiguous one to the 
other ; but they are governed by their own legislative enactments , and 
each is to a very great extent independent of all the others : this, indeed, 
is the case with all the States of the Union. Each of the Slave States 
is inhabited by thousands of intelligent men, by whom education is 
greatly valued, who have a deep sense of the rights of private judgment 
and of civil and religious liberty, and among whom an open profession is 
made of the religion of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And yet, 
by these people, and under the direct sanction of their separate legisla- 
tures, man is protected in holding property in his fellow-man. In many 
of the States, the instruction of the slave in the first elements of litera- 
ture is prevented, for laws are enacted which forbid the teaching of him 
to read. He cannot even receive his freedom and enjoy it in these 
States : for he is not allowed, if so circumstanced, to continue there in 
the possession of it beyond a limited time, or without a guarantee that 
he shall not become chargeable for maintenance in the city or parish in 
which he resides. 

By the census of the population of the United States, taken in 1S50 
the number of slaves was upwards of 3,200,000, and that of the free 
coloured population between 400,000 and 500,000 ; and if we calculate 
upon an increase of numbers, proportionate to that of the ten years 
prior to 1850, we may conclude that there will, at no great distance of 
time, be not far short of 4,000,000 of the two classes in the country. 
When we consider that this large multitude are our brethren and sisters 
by creation : that the blood of Christ was shed on the cross for them as 
for us ; and that the slaves are kept in bondage for no crime whatever 
which either they or their forefathers have committed ; we are afresh 
brought to feel the enormity and magnitude of the sin, especially in the. 
present enlightened age of mankind. Whether we turn our thoughts to 
such as are held and treated as domestic slaves ; to those let out to hire 
as the beasts of the field ; to others, who pay their owners annually a 
stipulated sum for being allowed so to employ themselves ; or to the far 



43 

greater proportion who are employed in forced, nncompensated labour, 
cultivating the cotton, the sugar, the tobacco, the rice, and the hemp of 
the southern and western States ; and when wc reflect on the violation of 
chastity, the lying, the deceit and the robbery,which are the immediate con- 
sequences of such a state of society, wo see in the carrying out of 
Slavery a dreadful complication of crime in open violation of the plain- 
est principles of the Christian religion. And it ought to be constantly 
borne in mind that, to a very large extent, the inhabitants of the British 
Isles, of many of the nations of Europe, and of the Free States of North 
America are indirectly, and in many instances it may be thought almost 
unavoidably, involved in these things ; either as consumers, as manufac- 
turers, as dealers, as shiprowners, or commercial men. This circum- 
stance, in our apprehension, presents a powerful motive for considering 
in what way this enormous evil can be radically cured. We believe the 
only eftectual remedy to be — the utter extinction of Slavery. 

We have been repeatedly brought to feel the firmness of the ground on 
which our religious Society stands in this matter, — that Slavery is con- 
trary to the law of our blessed Saviour. In that opinion we believe that 
all serious Christians will be brought to unite, as they come impartially 
and humbly to examine the question in the light of Truth. It is clear to 
us that this view of the subject gives the slave an undoubted right to 
immediate freedom. We do not see how a diiferent course can be advo- 
cated, when it is once admitted that for man to hold property in his 
fellow-man is contrary to the Divine law. As a moral being, the slave 
is, in the first place, responsible to his Creator; but whilst he is held at 
the absolute will of another, how can he fulfill the various duties which 
the Gospel of Christ enjoins ! Lil^erty is his birthright from heaven ; he 
has been deprived of his just rights far too long. If from any circum- 
stances by which he has been surrounded whilst in slavery he requires 
])reparation for the right enjoyment of this freedom, it is the duty of the 
Government under which he lives, on the principles of righteousness and 
mercy, exercising a Christian, paternal care, to protect and to help him in 
his new position as a free man by every means in its power. He is the 
injured person, in that he has been so long held in Slavery ; for this un- 
righteous treatment he is justly entitled to an adequate remuneration, if 
such can be found for him. To subject him to any difficulty or hardship, 
in the acquisition of his freedom, is therefore manifest injustice. 

In rapidly passing from one Slave State to another, we had scarcely an 
.opportunity to observe, much less to become acquainted with, the real 
nature of American Slavery. It was obviously our duty to be cautious 
in the manifestation of our sympatliy for the slave in his sufTeriiigs. We 
were simply travelling as messengers, bearing an Address to the rulers 
of a country of which we were not citizens, and that on a subject of a 



44 

delicate nature, and on whicli the inhabitants are very sensitive. It 
Therefore became us to confine ourselves to the specific object which 
brought us there : and of the propriety of this course, nyc are, on the 
retrospect, fully confirmed. But we did meet with distressing evidence 
of the continuance of an American Slave-trade. On the boat which 
conveyed us down the Mississippi river, were slaves under the convoy of 
a trader, taken to be sold in New Orleans. On the road-side in the 
woods, on two successive days, as we travelled from Jackson to Mont- 
gomery, we saw gangs of slaves going southward, to be sold by the man- 
trader. Thirty slaves, men, women, and children, offered for sale like 
cattle, were standing in the front of the State House of Mississippi, 
when we went to present the Address to the Governor. Slaves brought 
to Montgomery in Alabama for sale, were to be seen in depots on both 
sides of the way to the State House, as well as in other parts of the 
city. In a Missouri paper of last autumn were several advertisements 
from traders, proposing to purchase or to sell negroes, one of them to the 
number of 2500. In a New Orleans paper, brought on board the steam- 
er on which we were passengers, published in the twelfth month of last 
year, were five successive advertisements of houses opened for the sale of 
slaves, brought from Carolina, from Maryland, or from Virginia. In 
another paper, issued a few weeks later at Charleston, in South Carolina, 
were seventeen distinct advertisements of slaves for sale, to the number 
of between 600 and 700. These sad proofs of a continuance of a trade 
in man, thus openly carried on under legal sanction, in the middle of the 
nineteenth century, brought before us, unsought for and accidentally, are 
a melancholy evidence of the extent of the traffic. What wickedness it 
is for man thus to buy and sell his brother ! Why do not all who pro- 
fess the name of Christian in that land rise up and unitedly condemn this 
enormous sin 1 

Many are looking to the free and independent State of Liberia, on the 
coast of Africa, as a home to which the present race of Negroes and 
their descendants, whether free or slaves, may be removed : and they are 
encouraged by the reports of the thriving condition of some who are al- 
ready gone thither. We wish well to that Republic. To the removal 
thither of those who use the same free will in going as the numerous 
emigrants from Europe to America do, we can offer no objection. We 
fear that with some, the encouragement of this emigration has its origin 
in an aversion to the coloured people living among them ; from a settled 
belief that the different races cannot live together as freemen. We say 
it in kindness, but surely this feeling ought to be got rid of. It appears 
from the census of the slave population that the number of slaves in the 
United States, in the ten years preceding 1850, increased about 700,000. 
The emigration to the coast of Africa has latterly taken place at a 



45 

greater rate tlian formerly, but it still does not exceed 1000 annually. 
Can then the whole of the coloured population be transported thither 
and find homes and employment 1 And if it were so, who is to cultivate 
the soil and perform the services in which the slaves are now engaged ? 
To rely upon this system of colonization, is liable to the serious disad- 
vantage of turning the mind from other means of bringing this evil to an 
end. The coloured man is surely as much entitled as the white man to 
live in the land in which it has pleased the Author of his existence that 
he should be born. 

In passing along, we have felt much for the free coloured inhabitants 
of the United States. These amount, as we have said, to nearly half a 
million. They are too generally treated as an inferior race, and looked 
upon with neglect and contempt. The morals and general habits of 
some of these may have rendered it both unpleasant and difficult to help 
them ; but such cases are not rare among the white population of any 
country. Even the colour of their skin has been, and is, considered as a 
mark of degradation : this is wrong, and yet we are conscious that we 
ought to make allowance for these feelings. It is, we are convinced, of 
great importance— it is a duty — to elevate the character of this class by 
education, and to impart that instruction beyond the mere elements of 
learning, which we are persuaded they are capable of receiving. We 
are glad to bear our testimony to the diligent care and kindness which 
many of the members of our religious Society are extending to them in 
different parts of the Union. It has been very satisfactory to hear of 
more than a few coloured persons who are occupying independent posi- 
tions in civil society, as landholders, as farmers, or as commercial men, 
and living as respectable members of the community. But with the ex- 
ception of some of the New England States, even these citizens are not 
allowed to exercise the elective franchise, or to serve on juries. Much, 
however, yet remains to be done, and we believe it would greatly help 
forward the abolition of Slavery, if in the Free States all classes of the 
community would unite in elevating the condition of the free coloured 
population, and in pleading for their enjoyment of all the rights of a 
citizen. They would thus give proof of their conviction that a difference 
in the colour of the skin ought to be no bar whatever to an equal partici- 
pation in all things social, moral and religious. 

We were not unfrequently reminded, sometimes in our interviews with 
the Governors, and that in a kind and friendly spirit, that Slavery was 
first introduced into America by Great Britain ; and by her entailed upon 
the Southern States. We reply, that when American Indpendence was 
first declared, in 1783, it was as folly in the power of the several Stated 
to shake off that yoke as it was to free themselves from subjection to the 
British Government, and that the Northern States delivered themselves 



46 

from it as they saw fit. Surely it is for each generation to do that which 
is right, irrespective of the evil deeds of their forefathers. Our atten- 
tion was at other times directed to the wrongs inflicted on the peasantry 
of Ireland ; and to the wretched condition of the poor in our country, in 
populous cities, in factories, or even in some agricultural districts. We 
attempted not to justify any evil, but condemned it : at the same time 
we alleged that the rulers and inhabitants of our land are sincerely en" 
deavouring to remedy the wrongs complained of. But Slav^ery, as it 
exists in the United States, is a sin of a character peculiarly its own, 
and is not to be compared with the suiferings and -distresses which pre- 
vail in a nation where civil and political freedom is the equal right of all. 
Again, it was said that the abolition of Slavery in the British West India 
colonies is a failure : this we could in no degree admit. A fair examina- 
tion of that question will convince every candid mind that emancipation 
lias produced a vast improvement in the physical, social, and moral condi- 
tion of the population of those islands. 

We are glad to believe that in many instances the slaves in the United 
States are better cared for in food, in clothing, and in lodging, than was 
formerly the case. We trust there is a growing conviction that it is 
criminal to neglect their physical wants. But at the same time we are 
ever to remember the tendency of the human mind to act with severity 
and in an arbitrary manner, where irresponsible power is held. This 
presents a strong temptation to tyranny and cruelty : indeed, we are per- 
suaded that there is no valid security against the abuse of this power, 
whilst man is allowed to hold property in his fellow-man. Many indul- 
gent masters are said to treat their slaves so kindly and humanely that 
they become attached to then- owners, and would not accept their free- 
dom if it were offered to them. This proves, we think, that the slave 
has been so degraded that he has not a just estimate of civil liberty. It 
is further alleged, that on many estates the slaves are orally instructed 
in the truths of the Gospel : we dispute it not ; we are glad of it, as far 
as it goes. We believe these truths are not taught in vain ; and that in 
many cases the slaves are acknowledged to be nearer the kingdom of 
heaven than their owners. But inasmuch as they are prohibited from 
learning to read, they are necessarily debarred free access to the Scrip- 
tures of Truth ; and hence how is it likely that they can acquire a full 
and just appreciation of the blessed doctrines therein set forth ? The 
very instruction imparted must be imperfect and restricted in its charac- 
ter ; and, serious indeed is the responsibility of those teachers of religion, 
who, whilst undertaking to convey to others the truths of the Gospel, 
are parties to withholding one means' of becoming acquainted with the 
whole counsel of God. If the slaves are capable of receiving and fol- 
lowing the law of Christ, they are fit for the enjoyment of freedom. And 



47 

we believe that in every country of the world, and iu every condition of 
life, an inherent love of liberty belongs to man when fully enlightened by 
the power of the Gospel. 

We bring these general views before our friends, not as if they were 
new to them, but under the fresh impressions which they have made upon 
us, whilst tarrying in the country to which they apply. We write not in 
a spirit of auger or with harsh feelings towards the slave-owner. We 
have never been more deeply sensible of the difficulties by which lie is 
surrounded. We are persuaded that there is a large number of those so 
circumstanced who would be glad to be wholly extricated from the evil ; 
many of them from a growing conviction of the unrighteousness of the 
thing itself. They and their forefathers have become so familiarized with 
the system, that it is wrought into their habits of life : and we earnestly 
desire that every effort to serve the slave and to plead his cause should be 
performed iu a Christian spirit. Harsh and insulting epithets of personal 
application ought, we think, to be avoided ; they irritate, but they do not 
convince. And, it is well to bear in mind the comprehensive application 
of the words of the Apostle, — " Who made thee to differ from another ; 
and what hast thou which thou didst not receive." The truth is, how- 
ever, to be spoken, and that without compromise ; yet it should be in 
love, and in the language which becomes a follower of the Lord Jesus. 
This is most likely to gain an entrance into the heart, and to effect the 
designed purpose. In the last conversation on Slavery with our beloved 
friend William Forster, only a very few days before his death, he strongly 
and clearly introduced similar views. We accept them as his dying 
testimony to the spirit of meekness and forbearance with which all who 
labour in this righteous cause should be clothed. 

Separated as we were for many weeks from the society of our dear 
friends in America, and largely as we have since partaken of their kind- 
ness and sympathy, we have often been brought to feel for them as living 
under the same federal government with the slaves. We well know that 
many of them have long and deeply felt for those in bondage. Ti;ey 
have faithfully pleaded their cause with those in power, and have very 
recently, from many quarters, manifested their continued interest, by 
petitioning the Legislature at Washington against the passing of a Bill 
designed to extend the Slave territory on the west of the Mississippi 
river. Our dear friends may sometimes be disheartened in contemplat- 
ing the difficulties by which the question of Slavery is encompassed. 
Affectionately and earnestly do we desire that they will not allow such 
considerations iu the least degree to weaken their efforts in this righteous 
cause. May they rather with greater perseverance yield their minds in- 
dividually to a sense of the enormity and extent of the sin which attaches 
to Slavery, an evil so increased, that there are now four times as many 



48 

slaves in the United States as there were when the Union was formed. 
The cause of freedom may have been injudiciously advocated in years 
past ; but this by no means justifies inactivity or silence : on the contrary, 
it calls for greater skill and more unremitting perseverance in its advo- 
cacy. Occasions will frequently arise when mild Christian arguments 
would strengthen the convictions which may l3e at work in the heart of 
the Slave-holder, and may greatly help forward the liberation of his 
slaves. 

Of course it did not belong to us to suggest the specific measure by 
which Slavery is to be terminated. This is especially the province of 
the several State Governments in which it exists. Their laws are so 
stringent and severe that whilst these continue in force there is little 
hope of a change for the better. In the love which we bear to the Ameri- 
can people, and with a warm desire that the nation may be exalted by 
righteousness, we invite all who pity the slave to plead with the inhabi- 
tants of each Slave State for the entire repeal of these laws, and for the 
immediate setting at liberty of those who are held in bondage. We des- 
pair not : but we believe that as judicious, persevering efforts are made in 
a faithful Christian spirit, a deliverance from this mighty evil will be 
wrought, and an amount of happiness will be the result of which no idea 
can now be formed. May the Lord Almighty in his goodness and power 

hasten the coming of this blessed period ! 

josiah forster, 
John Candler, 
William Holmes. 



YEARLY MEETING, 1854. 
The Deputation appointed at our last Yearly Meeting, to present 
the Address on the Slave-trade and Slavery to the President of 
the United States, and others in that land, have produced a Re- 
port, which has been now read. 

This Report has been deeply interesting to us, and has afresh 
awakened our lively sympathy for that large number of our fel- 
low-creatures still held in the unrighteous bonds of Slavery ; as 
well as our concern for those who, as holders of slaves, are expo- 
sed to the fearful and debasing influence of this iniquitous system. 

The faithful and judicious services of our beloved friends in this 
arduous engagement have been truly satisfactory to this Meeting. 

We deeply mourn the loss sustained by the church in the death 
of one of the deputation, whilst engaged in this service,— our 
friend William Forster, honoured and beloved in the Lord,— yet 
we desire to bow in resignation to the Divine will. 

We feel further engaged to record our grateful sense of that 
assistance which, we reverently believe, has been granted of the 
Loixl throughout the prosecution of this extensive labour of love. 

THE END. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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